A Death March To The Fall Of Equestria

Chapters

Chapter 1 (Rewritten)
Chapter 2 (Rewritten)
Chapter 3 (Rewritten)
Chapter 4 (Rewritten)
Chapter 5 (Rewritten)
Chapter 6 (Rewritten)
Chapter 7 (Rewritten)
Chapter 8 (Rewritten)
Chapter 9 (Rewritten)
Chapter 11 (rewritten)
Chapter 12 (Rewritten)
Chapter 13 (Rewritten)
Chapter 14 (Rewritten)
Chapter 15 (Rewritten)
Chapter 16 (Rewritten)
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 10 (Rewritten)

Chapter 1 (Rewritten)

Author's Note

Hello everyone, both new and old to this story.

We thank you for your patience in the rewrite of the story and can happily say we have almost finished, with this up to the latest chapter being written.

We recommend that any older reader re-read as we release new chapters as some plot threads have changed.

We hope to hear from you soon

Chapter 1 (Rewritten)

One year. One year of development had brought him to this day. The day when the two games he'd been producing would finally be seen in the public eye.

Samual had travelled to Insomnia58 at Birmingham in the United Kingdom and was walking around the convention. His heart beating furiously in excitement for the rest of the day as he walked by multiple booths that were crammed into every corner of the hall, with some of the stalls being filled by people he had met in the past.

A week before he was supposed to go to the convention; Samual's manager had told him that he wanted him to go in some kind of ‘cosplay’ and also requested what he wanted it to be. He had; for some reason; pulled together some extra resources to create the costume for him to go in as well.

In the end, Samual ended up dressing in a pale navy blue robe with sleeves wrist rims being white and a diamond shape image pointing up the sleeves. A pair of iron pauldrons on both shoulders that surprisingly made from proper metal, having a matching colored tongue-collar hoodie with two copper buttons pinning a single string between them, along with a worn-out; dark red coloured belt which held the robe together. Wore some trousers that match the color of the robe along with some black modern shoes.

He was walking past one of the booths when he was curious about the contents and walked back to the stall. The stall had multiple pieces of memorabilia from all kinds of games and tv shows, which in itself wasn’t strange. However, the bit that confuses him was the fact that on display was what looks to be multiple items from the games he had been working on, one of which hadn’t been released to the public yet.

It was then that he looked up to see a young man sitting in the stall. He wore a long black and grey flowing trench coat and looked to have two swords strapped to his back, looking almost exactly like Kirito from the first season of Sword Art Online. He also had jet black hair that’s somewhat neatly combed, that was the only part of him that didn’t look to match the character.

“I see you're confused by some of my wares.” The man in the stall said.

“Pretty much, I know some of this stuff is from an unreleased game I’ve spent the last year working on, I didn’t think anyone had anything to do with the stuff yet.” Samual said in astonishment.

“It’s to be expected, I got a few details from a friend of mine in the company you work for, and the managing director sent me a few designs of weapons to try and help promote the game.” He exclaimed.

‘I don’t believe that for a second.’ Samual thought to himself before slowly starting to ask. “So~, have any of them sold today?”

“Oh yes plenty of them!” The figure responds with a smile. “But enough about that. Is there anything that you are interested in?”

Samual looks over the man's stall again to find anything of interest to buy. He spotted what looks to be some kind of pistol that almost looked to match his costume. He points towards the object. “How much for that?”

“Let sayyy... fifteen dollars for the magic gun and;” Stall men reach into a box, open it and pull out a small black ring that has a large red gem embedded into the centre of it. “I’ll throw in this ring with it as well.”

“Anything else you can throw in to sweeten the deal?”

“Well there is this...” The man said as he placed two small books in front of him. “These are just some replica skill books. I was given these a long time ago, been trying to pawn them off for a while but the things won’t sell, you can have them. At least it will get them out of my hands.”

“So all that for just fifteen pounds?”

“Yes, all fifteen pounds,” The salesman clarifies as Samual quickly held out the requested amount to him. “seems reasonable.”

Samuel took both skill books, the salesman passing him a holster for the gun and the ring which Samual put on his finger before attaching the gun holster to his side before he said. “than-”

However, before he could finish his gratitude; his vision became blurry before collapsing on the floor, then going completely black and losing all feeling around him.

Samual awoke with a shudder, sense of touch registers the frozen ice against his bare skin. Grunt with rattling teeth from the cold as he got himself off the ground, hearing a soft crunching sound but didn’t confirm with his eyes closed.

Samual opening his eyes, vision began to clear, slowly blinking before looking up. He found himself in what appears to be a frozen wasteland with nothing around him except for a large empty canvas of white in every direction. Turning around to look behind him, he found only a large canyon.

“Why do I get the feeling that I’m not in Birmingham anymore?” Samual asks himself before quickly trying to run towards the canyon to get some shelter from the cold snow.

It took ten minutes for him to reach the entrance to the canyon. Went inside, he took a few slow breaths releasing white mist from the low temperature, rub his hands together.

After a couple of seconds, he glances around before talking to himself. “Okay, so this is not anywhere near Birmingham... I don’t know of anywhere like this near where I was. So that leaves the question: Where am I?” It was then the words; ‘Cold Resistance - Lv.1, acquired.’ came into view, surprising him.

“Wait, what?” Samual asked himself in surprise before turning into curiosity. Glancing at the side of his vision, he saw a small circle with an arrow inside it, the actual design of it looking strangely familiar. “Hmm… Is this the design for the World War taskbar I designed?”

As he went to try something out, he mentally moves the arrow cursor towards one button and clicks it. It was then that a screen pops up in front of him that looks to have some character information on it. “... Wait… What the fuck is this, and did I just do that with my mind?”

After a few seconds of looking over the information he slowly read some of the information as he saw that it notes his name as ‘Satou Pendragon’ at the top of the screen and the word; ‘Level: 1’ below it. “I must have fallen asleep because I swear I’m in the game… and why the hell is it saying my name Satou? My name is Satou… wait, that's not right.”

The boy now known as Satou continues to look over the screen. It looks to have a section that read ‘Title’ with the word ‘Half-blood’ next to it. Below the word ‘Race’ is seen, which has ‘Human/Demon Hybrid’ beside it.

Satou looked at this for a moment, confusion clear on his face before he thought. ‘Wait demon? I don’t remember that being an option for the race of your character?’

A few seconds later; he blinks as the screen changes, now showing a map of the area with the words ‘Frosted Valley’ above it. “So... That must be the area I’m in right now. As much as I hate the idea of being in the open, I need to find out if anything else is nearby. I guess going to the top of this canyon would be an easier way to see a larger distance.”

After a few moments of contemplating on where to go, Satou slowly walks towards the side of the canyon. When he arrived, he found a stairway built into the side of the ravine. He uses it to walk up to the top. Couple of minutes of walking led him to the top of the valley and what he found was the extension of the valley as far as he could see. Turning around towards the open plain he had come from and saw what looks to be a humongous size, pink dome covering most of his vision. ‘How did I not see that before?’

Looking back at the valley Satou saw a white mist begin to fill the bottom of it. He frantically searches through his taskbar in hope of finding what he is looking for. Satou found a button that had an icon of a sonar symbol. He calmly took a breath before mentally deciding to activate it, a red line swipe down the map before hundreds of red dots appeared on it.

“That's not good, red markers only ever meant one thing in video games...” Satou mutters to himself as each of the markers starts lighting up, showing information on the incoming enemies.

On closer inspection, each of the incoming enemies were called ‘Elite Frost Lizardmen’ with levels ranging from 45 to 60. “Okay, which of the developers decided that putting new players against this was a good idea?” When they got within sight is when all of the ‘Elite Frost Lizardmen’ halt, climbing off the wolves back before grabbing bows off their backs.

Satou quickly ran behind a rock formation near him. “Please say they didn’t see me.” However; after a few moments, he looks out from behind the rock to suddenly see a hail of arrows beginning to fall from the sky towards him as he ducks back behind the rock as he shouts. “They saw me! They fucking saw me!”

Satou quickly covered his head, hoping this was just a dream. ‘If this really is a game, I really want that easy mode that we put in activating!’

After a few seconds, the volley of arrows ceased, giving Satou a short calm breath before suddenly clutching the side of his head. Feeling a throb and clench his eyes shut as multiple loud pinging noises were heard ringing through his head.

It felt like an hour had passed but it was only a minute when the noise ended. Haven’t heard any movements for a couple of seconds before re-opening them. Confused, Satou looks over the rocks to find the area full of lizardmen on the ground covered in black burn marks and collapse, seeming to have died. The snowy grounds around them had melted scars on the dirt.

He slowly stood up, walking towards the edge of the valley. When he got close; the ice and snow he was walking over suddenly made him slip and tumble down to the bottom of the valley.

When he finally reached the bottom of the valley, he slowly stood up to his feet on shaky legs somehow only receiving a few cuts and bruises from the fall. Groaning in pain, the young boy gazes up and spots one of the Lizardmen who is shakily getting up to its feet.

‘And of course one survives.’ He thought to himself. Looking around the area near the remaining lizard-lady to find many others trying to crawl forwards, most of them missing limbs and blood pooling around their bodies. They are close to death by a thread as Satou sees only less than five percent of health.

The lizard-lady who was able to stand began to speak in a foreign and broken tone which Satou could not understand, the language definitely not English or any other language he had heard before.

The lizard-lady grabbed one of the fallen Lizardmen’s swords, tossing it to the ground in front of Satou.

“I guess you want to fight me on even terms instead of killing me while I’m unarmed. I suppose there's comfort in the fact that I won’t die to a heartless monster.” Satou responded, grabbing the sword shakily standing on his own feet as the word; ‘Reptilian Language - Lv.1 acquired’ appeared in front of him.

Satou suddenly heard a few faint pings before a feminine voice that he soon realised came from the lizard-man infront of him as he heard her say. “You may have ruined all chances I had of saving my race, but even you deserve to die in battle like our laws dictate.”

After a second, the Lizard-man stumbles towards Satou, attempting to slash at him before he moves backwards just away from the blade as he thought. ‘Okay, so I heard multiple pings, then I could hear this lizard-man… or is it a lizard-girl in this case, clearly?’

Looking at the Lizard-man closely, he could definitely say that the Lizard-man was a woman. She had bright blue scales and a white underbelly that could be seen through her heavily damaged armour. Have nub curved horns on her head; two on top and one on each side of the head. Has large breasts; but since he’s a guy he couldn’t tell what size, her figure looks sort of frail but tough and attractive.

The lizard-lady slowly made her way forwards, trying to swing her sword at him as she barely swung it at him. Satou notices this and quickly ducks under the slow swipe. He found an opening where her armour had a large hole at the stomach area. As soon as Satou saw a gap in her armour; he quickly swung his left fist for a gut punch at his opponent's exposed chest area. She gasps in pain for a moment before slumping over his shoulder.

He took a slow breath, listening for any sign of life. He heard the lizard-man’s faint breath being a sign of her being still alive, as well as being clearly unconscious as the word ‘Skill acquired - Unarmed’ appeared in front of him.

But then, something caught Satou's eyes. What looked to be a silver collar that was covered in strange runes is in the snow next to one of the dead lizardmen corpses. He leaned down while trying to be careful with the lizard-girl, picking it up for a closer look.

He turned it around in his hand for a second before it suddenly leapt forwards snapping around the neck of the lizard-lady that was slumped over him, as the runes lit up in a golden colour which fades as quickly as it appears.

“What just happened?” Satou asked in surprise as he looked at the collar that was now around the Lizard-lady’s neck as whatever the clasp ends that allowed it to surround her neck had sealed completely, now having changed into a single continuous loop.

Now feeling like it's a good time, the young boy looks around the nearby area hoping for a place to get out of the cold.

Finding a small cave nearby, he slowly walks towards it while carrying the unconscious Lizard-lady, almost dragging her feet as he walks.

This continued for six minute until he reached the cave. Set her down against the wall before sitting beside her to catch his breath but pause for a second when her head fell into his lap. Her laying on the ground instead of sitting up.

“Okay, what the hell just happened?” He asked himself. Taking a breath before the menu appeared in front of him again, it flicked into a tab that said ‘Skills’. He looked down the list and saw his current skills he had gained. Confirming everything that had appeared in front of him during the unexplained fight was added to the list, showing at level 1 of 10; excluding ‘Reptilian Language’ which is marked as 10 out of 10.

Moving to another section in the menu that said ‘Spells’ and saw a single spell listed that read ‘Burst Rain - Lv.1’, with nothing else listed under it. “So; I only have a single spell… and what even is that spell? Where did it come from and why do I have it?”

He was suddenly struck by a pulsating pink light that obscured his vision for only a couple of seconds before fading. A new message pops up in front of him called ‘Crystal Cock Resistance - Lv.1 acquired’. He paused in confusion. “Okay, now what the hell is that one about?”

Satou pauses when he feels something rubbing itself near his crotch. When he looked down, he found the Lizard-lady rubbing her head against it, as a small tent appeared where her head was. “Okay, I’m not attracted to this one, so I think that resistance thing is a big warning. I think I'm maxing that one out.” Satou stated; quickly maxing it out. For whatever reason it was that had caused him to get an erection disappeared and soon after return to normal.

“Okay. That was weird;” Satou muttered to himself. “there doesn’t happen to be an explanation on what that actually did?” It was at that moment when a screen pops up with text that read;

(Crystal Cock Resistance - Lv.10 - Complete immunity to the effects of the Crystal Cock, no effects we will present includes increased Lust and unstoppable need to have sex with the opposite sex.)

“Okay, that's one weird thing that I cannot explain… But thank god I’ve got rid of that debuff.”

A faint groan came from Satou’s lap as he felt the Lizard-lady in his lap begin to stir before she suddenly gasped as the runes on the collar glowed in a golden light which quickly faded. Heard the Lizard-man begin to sob, blubbering. “No… p-please no. I-Ie don’t want to be a slave again, I just escaped my old master!”

“Wait, old master…” Satou responded by accident, followed with a thought. ‘What is wrong with this world?’

“Master, please don’t make me a slave!” The lady begged before realizing what she said; “No! Please no!” before starting to sob into Satou’s lap again.

‘Why do I think this is going to be a long day?’ Satou thought to himself as he sighed before starting to slowly rub the back of the lizard-lady’s neck as the word ‘Title acquired - Beginner Slave Owner’ appeared in front of him.

As he did this Satou began to look over his menu, checking through his inventory, finding it full of everything from the corpses of the lizard-men that had somehow died along with their weapons and armour, also received what looked to be a water pouch. He then looked at what money he had; it showed over 1 million Bits as he thought. ‘Well, I won’t be in trouble in terms of money for a while at least… if these Bits are this place's currency that is.’

He simply scrolled through all of his information and found his level had increased from Level 1 to Level 31 and that his stats had increased by quite a large margin from when he had started.

Then he went to look at the map of a nearby area, finding that there were only 4 dots remaining on the map before the map zoomed out further. The map outside the area he was in was completely blacked out. ‘Looks like I'll need to take a trip around to see more of the map. Stupid fog of war.’

After a couple of minutes, he looked down and found the lizard-lady had calmed down. But beside that, she is rubbing her head against Satou’s chest affectionately, almost as if she’s in some kind of trance.

He let this continue for a couple of minutes before he asked. “Okay, so two things Miss.”

“Miss? Why are you speaking so kindly to me, master?” The lizard-lady asked.

“What do you mean? Is it not common courtesy to treat others with respect?”

“Master… Are all females not inferior to males?” The lizard-man asked.

“Okay, there are three things I need to ask.” Satou replied, changing the subject as quickly as possible. “First, what is your name?”

“My old master called me slut.” The lizard-man responds.

“Not happening, I want your real name.” Satou asked again.

“Master… I-I don’t...” The lizard-man responded hesitant before closing her eyes, visibly shaking. “I-its Frostine. M-my name is F-Frostine...”

“That is a beautiful name for a beautiful woman.” Satou responded as Frostine began to blush before Satou added “Now, can you tell me everything you know about this world?”

“Y-you mean, you don’t know Master?” Frostine asked as Satou shook his head. “Well, I would be glad to tell you everything I know, master.” Frostine seemingly crawled almost like a dog till she was sitting in front of Satou.

Frostine took a breath before speaking up. “I don’t know much about what's going on with the world currently, and I only know bits from before everything started. You need to understand, I came from a small, remote and unseen village before I first became a slave.”

“Okay, but anything I can learn that will help?” Satou asked.

Frostine just nodded to him before continuing. “Well, from what I know, the frozen north; the area of the continent where we currently are in; was invaded by a race from across the seas just over a year ago. We don’t actually know why they came here or for what purpose. But what we do know from before then is scarce. The limit of it is that they are called the Caribou, and from what I saw; it appears the entire female population of their race are for all better terms ‘as smart as a rock.’”

“So I take it that makes the males of the race act like the dominant part of their culture then?”

“Yes Master, but beyond that, it appears that they rate the females of their race so low that they are all treated as slaves or animals at best, or even just property at worst, many aren’t even seen as living creatures and are only really used for the males enjoyment or to fulfil their most carnal desires… in other words sex.” Frostine explained, reaching towards Satou crotch as if to make a point.

“Frostine, don’t do that.”

“Sorry master...” Frostine responded, quickly pulling her hands back. “Anyway, from what I learned, the collar you put on me is made like a system to show them how well trained their slaves are, I know of only four classes, with silver being questionable for a class as it means unclassified.”

“And the others mean?”

“Red means willing, Black means unwilling, and even though I’ve never witnessed the last; there are purple collars that class the wearer as being ‘fucked silly’ is how it was explained by the Caribou that I belonged to before.”

“Okay, and how were you treated? You're not of their race, and you clearly are smart enough to have been seen as at least equal to them in terms of intelligence.” Satou stated, not understanding the situation.

“Umm… m-my last master, he kept me in a small cage in the dungeons under his home with about fifty other slaves. He would only feed me little scraps that he didn’t want… or his… you know… h-he w-w-would…” She stopped as she began to sob, remembering what happened to her having clearly upset her.

Satou reaches over and pulls her next to him, saying. “It’s okay. If you don’t want to talk about it, you don’t need to.”

Frostine sniffed while shaking her head before she said shakily. “H-he would chain us to a roof in one of the larger cells a-and leave us hanging there for days at a time, starving us and only coming down to use anything he could to harm us, from bats to whips and even stab us sometimes to amuse himself!” As soon as she said that she broke down once again in tears as she grabbed a hold of Satou tightly. “P-please master, don’t hurt me i-i-i’ll be whatever you what, j-just please don’t hurt me!” She pleaded.

Satou places her on his lap and he starts rubbing her back. “I won’t hurt you, you have my word. Just make me a promise, as long as you don’t do anything that could get us both in trouble, I will always protect you.” He reassured her.

“I-I promise master!” Frostine responded through her tears. “T-thank you!”

Satou looked outside of the cave to find a blizzard had appeared. “We’ll stay here for the night, just rest for now and we’ll move when this storm calms.”

“Okay master.” Frostine responded before he heard what sounded like a stomach rumbling next to him.

He then looked to Frostine before he calmly said. “I take it you're hungry.”

“Y-yes master, I’m sorry to waste your time feeding me, I’ll be fine.”

“No, I’ll sort something, we just need to find something to create a fire and something to eat.”

Frostine went silent for a minute before saying, “I could drag one of the bodies from outside in here for us to cook.”

Satou looks at her in shock. “You would eat your own kind!”

“Yes Master, it’s not strange for us. When someone in the village dies we would often use all of their body for anything from food to clothing, and even use their claws as tools.”

“Oookay... If you are willing to do this, try to get some of the bodies from outside. We may be able to do something with them.” Satou stated as Frostine climbed off him, quickly making her way outside. “I know I had something in my inventory to use for a fire.”

He went to open his inventory, scrolling through the list to try finding a few other corpses, lizard-man armour and weapons that had been placed in the inventory; which seems to have no capacity on what it could carry. After a few moments, he found what looked to be ‘Spruce Wood Logs x10’ which he pulled out of his inventory as ten large wooden logs appeared in front of him.

“Where did I even get these from?” Satou thought to himself as he waited for Frostine to return.

After a couple of minutes, Frostine returned, dragging the bodies of two Lizardmen behind her before placing one of them in the corner of the cave while placing the second against a wall as blood began to leak onto the floor around the body, it seemed to twitch slightly.

Frostine then quickly shouts to Satou, fear clear in her voice. “Master please; help him!”

Satou quickly made his way towards the bleeding lizard-men. He saw that he was missing one of his legs. He quickly opened his inventory before wildly scanning through the list, until he found some objects inside that read ‘Old Clothes x60’ and ‘Health Potions x22’. He reaches in and pulls the objects out of the bag.

After a couple of seconds of him tightening the old clothes around the missing leg as tight as he could in an attempt to restrict the blood flow, did this 5 more times going up the entire leg until the blood stopped flowing. Grabbed one of the health potions, opening it and he held it up to the lizard-men's lips, liquid inside dripping down into the injured lizard's mouth. He tried to open his mouth a bit more before Satou placed the bottle into his mouth, slowly allowing the lizard-men to drink the whole content of the bottle.

As soon as he drank the entire bottle, Satou observed the injured lizardmens health that shows 600 out of 2300. “I’ll keep an eye on him for a while, but we should let him rest and hope for the best.”

“Thank you master,” Frostine responded, looking at the pile of logs on the ground. “Where did you get the wood master?… Do you have a Dazaneg's Magic Bag?”

‘Now I remember. That was the name of the infinite storage bag from the Log Horizon anime. I suppose I could say that was the case.’ Satou thought to himself before responding. “I didn’t know that anyone else knew of it. I heard nobody else had made one in a long time.”

“They are rare master. Not many people know how to make them anymore, so having one is an amazing asset to have!” Frostine said in astonishment before looking back at the wood. “D-do you mind if I light the fire, master?”

“Go ahead.”

Frostine nods before walking towards the pile of logs, placing three of them in the centre before placing her hand out, a small fire ball hits the logs as they somehow ignite creating a flickering blue flame.

“I’ll see if I can find anything else worth scavenging from the other bodies before I prepare everything for you master. You just relax for now while you look after him and I’ll bring you the food when it’s done and the supplies from the bodies for you to keep for when you need them.” Frostine stated.

“Okay, I look forward to seeing what you can come up with.” Satou responded with a smile as Frostine nodded before she made her way back into the valley to begin scavenging what she could.

After an hour she came back with a few Lizardmen corpses from outside which she put them into a pile. Then began to slowly tear them apart and skinning them completely, then place all of the parts of the bodies into piles as she carried all the meat over to the fire to begin preparation.

She had also managed to find two of the wolves they had been riding, must have survived whatever had killed the group. She led them back to the cave and were resting near the mouth of the cave, seeming to be acting as guard dogs.

“If you wish to master, you can start clearing the other materials away for me and put them in the bag. I can re-use all the parts for us later to make us some bits.” Frostine suggested as she looked at Satou, who was helping the injured Lizardmen drink with another health potion.

“Well at least that all but confirms that bits are the currency they use here.” Satou thought to himself before he said with a smile. “I’d be glad too, Frostine, just be careful, okay.”

Satou places the empty bottle back into his bag before walking towards the piles of loots, looking over them, each of them reading ‘Lizard-man Hide x98’, ‘Lizard-man Claws x196’ and ‘Lizard-man Bones x685’.

Satou halted from taking the loots, looking back towards Frostine. “Umm… Are you sure you don’t want to bury their bones?”

Frostine looks back to him before saying with a smile. “No. It’s actually a sign of respect for us to reuse every part of the body. We do live in a frozen wasteland, resources are scarce as they are. If we can be useful to others; even after we pass; we see it as an honor to do so.”

Satou looks back at the pile of body parts. Closing his eyes and the piles quickly disappeared in a glow of light as each pile of parts appeared in his inventory.

Looking back to Frostine as a status menu appears over her, showing Satou some information on her. It had everything from her name, to her level which strangely now read as only level 3 instead of the lowest level of 45 he had seen before.

[Frostine Stats

Level: 3

Health Points:250/1000

Strength: 5

Endurance: 7

Stamina: 13

Magic Power: 10

Vitality: 35

Dexterity: 20

Intelligence: 27]

After a few moments, Satou walks over to her before reaching into his bag, pulling out a loose white t-shirt before saying. “Frostine, please put this on. It’s not much but it might keep you a bit warmer.”

She looked back over her shoulder and saw what Satou was presenting. She happily took it quickly putting it on before smiling happily at Satou before hugging him. “Thank you, master, I love it.”

“It’s not a problem, how far off do you think we are for food?” He asks as Frostine releases her hugging embrace.

“I’d say... at least five more minutes, but I’ll say ten just to be safe.” Frostine answers. “I’ll bring it over once it’s ready, master.”

Satou just nodded before sitting back down as he looked at Frostines Status Menu again. ‘So it appears armour increases your stats slightly, with the t-shirt I gave her have increased her level by 1. So the levels I saw before were heightened by their armour.’ He glanced over her other stats and saw one that read ‘Class’ but he strangely found the section blank while the ‘Subclass’ was registered as ‘Housewife’.

Soon enough, two warm and ready reptilian cooked steaks to eat, one of which she brought over to Satou, passing one to him as she sat down next to him. “I hope you like it, master.”

“I honestly hope I do as well.” Satou responded with a nervous smile as they both took a bite out of their steaks. ‘You know… It tastes a bit like chicken.’

He looks back at Frostine to find she has already eaten all of her steak and is sitting next to the injured lizardman, using her claws cutting the steaks before feeding a piece to him.

Satou's attention turned to the mouth of the cave, seeing that the blizzard was still going strong and the wolves eating some of the raw meat.

After a couple of minutes, Satou felt a weight against his leg, he looked down to find Frostine sitting next to him, her head resting in his lap. He began rubbing the back of her neck before calmly saying. “We’ll spend the night here, then start moving tomorrow morning. You get some sleep okay?”

“Yes, master...” Frostine responded with a happy smile on her face as she fell asleep on Satou’s leg.

‘What kind of messed up world have I got stuck in?’Satou thought as he looked at the injured lizard-man who looked to be trying to say something in his sleep, though Satou couldn’t hear.

After a couple of minutes looking through his menu again before letting it fade out of view as sleep comes to claim him. Closing his eyes and moments later, he fell asleep.

Chapter 2 (Rewritten)

Something has gone wrong. We don't seem to have an archived copy of that chapter.

Chapter 3 (Rewritten)

The next morning, Satou woke up, slowly sat up before looking around. Finding Eliza still asleep, causing Satou to smile and reach down to Eliza once again rubbing her head before muttering to himself. “I’ll stay here and let her get a bit more sleep. With the cart; we should be able to get to the Empire a lot quicker now.”

Five minutes later, Eliza shot up to a sitting position, surprising Satou as she headbutted him. She glances at Satou. “Is there something wrong?” She asks when she saw Satou covering his face.

“Just... my face hurts.” Satou responds, rubbing his face. “I came by to check if you were okay last night and to bring you some food over, but you were asleep. I was worried about you so I wrapped that blanket around you, but you fell asleep on my lap and I didn’t want to move in case it woke you.”

She nodded and started putting on her mech armour back on.

“How are you feeling today?” Satou asked as he stood up.

“I’m in great condition, estimate it at 99% at most.” She states; almost like how a robot would calculate.

“I suppose that's good.” Satou responded before adding. “Do you fancy anything to eat before we get everyone together to head off?”

“I can live without food for a week. I’ll be sustainable.”

“Are you sure? Just because you can live without doesn’t mean that you should do it.”

“I’m no fool Satou, I know that I needed to eat. But I can make and hunt my own food without assistance, so I’ll help myself.”

“I’m well aware of that. But I do want to help you whenever I can, I have more than enough food on me. I was just saying I can give you something when you need it to save time and energy.”

“Made by using sentient bodies, no thanks.” She retorted as her last mech boots made a click and stood up.

“Fine.” Satou sighed in defeat before looking at her as saying. “Is there anything you want to do before we get moving?” Eliza shook her head. “Okay, let's get everyone moving then, and we can collect up everything we can salvage from the other cave before we head off.” Eliza just nods in agreement. With that, they walk over to the other cave.

Once they walked into the mouth of the second cave; they found Frostine, Sunny and Sapphire all huddled together on one side of the cave asleep. Both Sunny and Sapphire’s head’s resting against Frostine’s legs. On the other side, they found Drayce asleep with both wolves around him, canines heads resting against his legs.

“Do you want to wake them up while I start seeing what we can salvage to put on the cart?” Satou asked.

“No, I’ll do the scavenging, you wake them up. They are more close to you than me.” Eliza said in a matter of fact.

“Well except for Sapphire, she is your servant after all.” Satou started with a smile.

“She is still a slave until I train her to be more servant. Besides, I notice that you are avoiding them. So sorry; but you're doing it, mister.” She said leaving to get scavenging through the caves.

“Of course I’m doing it.” Satou mutters then sighed to himself, walking up to the sleeping slaves. Tapping Sunny & Sapphire on the shoulders as he said. “Sunny Sapphire, it’s time to wake up.”

The amber woman groaned for a moment as her golden eyes fluttered open, sleepily sitting up while rubbing the tiredness from her eyes. “Mmhm, H-hello master.” Sunny mumbled.

Seconds later; Sapphire woke up but almost instantly leapt up, grabbing a hold of Satou legs as well as her face cheeks pressing against the leg as she said breathy. “Good morning master, do you want me to service you today?” Her head leans closer to his groin as she begins to reach towards his crotch.

Satou shook his head in annoyance, saying. “Good morning to you two as well. One, no, I don’t Sapphire. I already told you; I don’t use you for that. And secondly, we’ll be moving soon. So you need to get ready. I know you’ll both be pulling the cart and taking us to the Crystal Empire today.”

“Th-the Crystal E-empire!” Sunny stuttered in fear as her body shook from the name. “W-w-why there!?”

“It's the only town I know exists nearby and we have almost no supplies and what we do have won’t last forever.” Satou states. “Is there a problem with us going there? Has something happened there to the point that you don’t want to go back?”

Instead of answering, Sunny was shaking while she continued muttering ‘Fausticorn help’.

Satou knelt down in front of her before pulling her close to him as she flinches by the touch. He said. “If something is worrying you then you are free to tell me, I promised I’d look after you, but I can’t help if I don’t know what's wrong.” His comfort embraced help, her shaking was gone and stopped muttering the same words again but didn’t answer back.

“Sunny? Are you sure you're okay?” Satou asked again with a kind tone, rubbing the back of her neck.

Sunny then flinched away from the rub as the familiar voice of Eliza answered instead as she walked up to them. “You know, doing that would give others the wrong impression. They’ll think you're going to hurt them with you touching their neck area. I know you won’t but others don’t. I advise you not to do that.”

“Well I’m sorry if the only way I could think to help was to try that.” Satou responded. “I’m not the best with other people… never really have been.”

“I would like to lecture you but we’re not in a good place to do such a thing.” She gestures to the cave itself before continuing. “Anyways, I searched the place and got some trinkets for us to use.”

“Okay, if that's everything of use; we better get it loaded up into the wagon and get moving.” Satou responded, looking at everyone. “I’ll get Frostine moving while you all get connected to the cart and ready to go.”

“Of course master, I’d be happy to.” Sapphire responded with a smile as she ran out the cave towards the cart with a spring in her step. Sunny soon followed with a nervous step.

“Eliza… look after them for me, please.” Satou requested as he looked at her. She looked to be in thought before heading with them.

As soon as they had left is when Satou looks down at Frostine. He saw her open one of her eyes and a smirk on her face. “You’ve been awake the entire time haven’t you?”

“Maybe I have master. I didn’t want to wake them up, they have a long day ahead of them after all.” Frostine responded as she got up, stretching her arms upward before she said. “Besides; it was kind of nice not having ponies run from me at the first sight of me.”

“I assume that happens often?”

“Considering that we are seen as monsters. Yes, it’s half the reason we stayed hidden so we could avoid getting hunted by their guards… When they did attack; we normally had to capture them before dragging them away, either having them serve us or killing them off like they were livestock.” Frostine stated. “I even had a younger one of them as a pet once a long time ago.”

“That's, kinda unnerving.” Satou stated.

“Maybe, but if I hadn’t; they’d have fattened the poor thing up before serving it as part of a meal.” Frostine responded. “I wonder if she escaped when they attacked us.”

“It sounds like you really cared for this pony.” Satou stated as they walked over towards Drayce.

“I did, you never know, maybe one day I could train and care for any pets you get master.” Frostine responded with a smile.

“We’ll see...” Satou responded with a smile as they reached Drayce. Satou taps him on the shoulder and says. “Drayce, we need to get moving soon.”

“I understand Satou.” Drayce responded, opening his eyes.

“You were awake as well?”

“I’ve woken her up for years… I’m used to being up early.” Drayce responded before the wolves got up off his lap, one of them allowed him to climb onto it’s back. “Well… Are we going?”

“If you're ready then yes.” Satou responded before the group made their way towards the mouth of the cave.

Once they reached the other cave; they walked towards the wagon. Saw both Sunny and Sapphire attached the cart beginning to pull it out from the cave with Eliza walking beside them, guiding them out.

“Are we ready to go!” Satou shouted to the group as they approach.

“Y-yes, m-master.” Sunny said nervously.

“Of course we are, I’m happy to be heading home!” Sapphire shouted back.

“Okay.” Satou responded as he looked at Eliza before saying; “Are you ready to go?” as Frostine jumped into the back of the cart.

“Yes.” Eliza answered.

“Okay then.” Satou responded as he jumped onto the front of the wagon. A message saying; ‘Chore Skills - Two Horse Cart Riding’ which he quickly put up to 5. A flood of memories hit him, instantly teaching him how to control the cart.

[Chore Skills - Two Horse Cart Riding: ‘Ability to control a two horse cart. Can control with ease but unable to carry larger loads of supplies.’]

“Eliza, it’s up to you where you sit.” He said.

“I’ll be walking. As long as I don’t run too much; I’ll be able to walk all the way there.” She answered as she stretched her legs and arms before sighing in satisfaction and ready.

“You sure, wouldn’t it be safer for you to use the cart as well?” Satou asked.

“Really, I have no idea.” Eliza sarcastically said. “I know but I rather walk.”

“If you're sure...” Satou responded. Then looked towards Drayce before he said. “Are you and the wolves jumping in the back or…?”

“No, we’ll lead from the front, if anything does attack; we can try and take them down before they reach you.” Drayce responded as the wolf he was sat on walked to one side of the cart and the other waited on the other.

Satou gazing at the entire group, then he calmly said. “If nobody has anything else they need to do, let's get going.” With that; the whole group began to travel towards the Crystal Empire.

One hour after the group had begun to make their way towards the Crystal Empire suddenly stopped as both Sunny and Frostine seemed to freeze up before Satou looked around to find what looked to be small blue slimes, and some strange orange balloon shaped monsters bouncing towards the cart.

“Seriously… you're scared of slimes and whatever the other things are?”

“Those are monsters, Satou, and by my estimation; these two are not combat types.” Eliza said and was confirmed from Sunny shakily nod.

“Okay then.” Satou responded before reaching to his side, grabbing a hold of the gun at his side before saying; “Keep them safe… I’ll just be a minute.” As he climbed off the cart and scrolled through his menu before a sword appeared on the other side of his body from where the gun holster was.

“Fine.” Eliza simply said as she jumped off and over the cart mares, landing in front of them. “Stay behind me.” She said to the mares.

Drayce then stood beside Eliza as the second wolf moved beside him as he said. “Do you want my assistance back here or should I help him?”

“It's best if you protect the rear just in case any more monsters want to jump in for an ambush.” Eliza said.

“Okay then.” Drayce responded. “Do you think he’ll be okay?” he added pointing to Satou.

“As long as he knows which weapon works against what, he might get out of there unscath.” Eliza estimated.

“And what are the chances he does?”

“Depends if he’s marksmen or swordsmen, the balloon one is a flyer so his range weapon is a good choice though not a good choice against liquid type enemies like slimes, so a sword might help. If he has a blast type move then he can make sure that the slime wouldn’t have a chance of multiplying.” She said.

“And if similar enemies approach us from behind… what are my chances?” Drayce asked.

“For slime, the wolf will have a hard time because they aren’t slash type, they have to actually bite or claw in their target. As for balloons that can go in the air will make it impossible for them. You, I don’t know.”

Drayce then began to turn to head to back of the cart before pausing. “I think he’ll be fine.” He said as he looked at Satou to find him firing his gun towards the slimes ahead of him, the beam of light engulfing each one and continuing on through to any slimes behind it leaving no parts for them to reform from.

Satou then turned quickly, firing at the balloon like monsters that had risen above the slimes, firing a round at each; which only launched them backwards; but otherwise ineffective apart from keeping them at a distance as he focused his efforts on the slimes.

After only a couple of seconds; he had cleared all the slimes. Holstering his gun as he drew his sword and waited for the balloon-like monster to approach before swinging his sword as they got close, popping them with a single swing and what looked to be their remains slowly floated to the floor littering the ground around Satou.

It only took a matter of seconds before all the monsters around him were killed as he sheathed his sword and made his way back towards the cart.

[Loots
Inflate balloon skin x4
Slime Jelly x18]
[Satou Level Up by 1: 31 < 32]

“That should do it. Are we ready to go?” Satou asked as he looked at the group. Sunny and Sapphire sigh in relief. Eliza nodded to him before heading back to her seat as the group continued on towards the empire.

-Seven hours later-

During the remainder of the trip the group was stopped multiple times by large groups of monsters that attacked them as they cleared them each time before moving on as Satou collected more loot from the monsters and increased his level 5 more times reaching level 37.

Upon reaching the outskirts of the Crystal Empire they looked in front of them to find a large pulsating pink bubble in front of them with what looked to be multiple Caribou wearing almost nothing. Each with a crystal pony by their feet, some of them with their heads held tightly against the Caribou’s groin.

‘Well this is disgusting.’Satou thought to himself as he looked to Eliza before saying. “You better jump on now; just in case.” Eliza walked to the back and got on, sitting with her hugging her legs to her chest.

“Just stay calm okay, nothing's going to happen to any of you.” Satou said calmly as he approached the Caribou guards, hearing them speak to each other.

As soon as they got close to the gates; three guards approached him, placing spears in front of the cart as both Sapphire and Sunny recoiled in shock as both wolves began to growl at the guards.

“Woah, calm down you lot!” Satou responded, as Drayce whistled as the wolves stopped growling and calmly waited.

Pausing for a second to let everyone calm down. He looked at the Caribou as he said. “Is something wrong?”

“Just standard checks… Wait; I know this cart, and you're not the owner.” The Caribou respond accusedly.

“I’m well aware sir.” Satou responded. “You see we found the cart around a battlefield with hundreds of dead Lizard-men corpses around the place. This cart with the two mares you see pulling it was to the side in a cave with four dead Caribou outside. I didn’t know how close the other Lizard-men were so we hid in the cave with the mares till the following morning. When we loaded everything up and fled here.” Satou stated, as the word ‘Persuasion - used’ was seen in front of him.

“I see.” the Caribou responded, “If that is the case, it makes the mares pulling the cart not yours; unless you are willing to pay for them that is.”

“How much would they be?” Satou asked curiously.

“I’d say maybe 20 bits for the black collared bitch, I heard she wouldn’t ever listen to her master’s orders, couldn’t suck a dick very well either… and the red; oh she was always a brilliant little bitch, always willing to do anything for a master, even defile herself infront of everyone, I’d say we’d let her go for about 64 bits for her. And the cart, considering it would just keep dust, have it for 45 bits.”

“So, all in all, you want 129 bits for them all?”

“So far, and then there are the two sluts inside. Never seen these before; where’d you get them?”

“The Lizard was someone I captured and collared myself, a very loyal bitch wouldn’t betray me for anything, and the other one is my little sister.”

“A little sister, eh. I can’t charge you for two slaves you captured yourself, but I still need to inspect them… One seems to need to be categorised and the other is unmarked.” The Caribou responded.

Satou turned his sight towards Frostine and Eliza before he said. “Both of you climb out and let him take a look.”

Sighing quietly, Eliza got out and stood beside Sapphire while Frostine stood next to Sunny.

One Caribou first inspects Eliza, he said. “So... a very good looking little sister, are you sure you wouldn’t be willing to sell her to me for a very attractive price?”

“I’m sorry, but she’s not for sale.” Satou responded as he climbed off the wagon.

“You sure, I’d take very good care of her,” the Caribou responded as he began to reach towards her breasts only for Satou to stand in front of her.

“I already told you my stance on her, she’s not being sold to anyone.” Satou responded glaring at the Caribou.

“Fine I understand, she will still need a collar and from the fact she didn’t react to me, I’d say she’d be a fine red collar.” The Caribou said; once again reaching for Eliza’s breasts. His hand was stopped this time by Eliza who moved the hand away and gripped it harder, making him cry out from just the tight grip.

“Okay, maybe not suitable for that, tell your slut to let me go!” The Caribou shouted.

“Eliza, could you release his hand.” Satou request.

“You sure? I can break his arms to give him an example of how you should treat a slave if you want?” Eliza asked Satou.

“No, release him, we don’t want to cause any trouble that can be avoided.” Satou stated.

“Smart choice brother.” She said before letting go of the caribou hand.

“Okay, black collared bitch it is then!” The Caribou grunted, shaking his hand before writing it on a sheet of paper before looking at Frostine. “Nice size body. Not a bad build, very suitable for any master, she’d be picked up in a flash that's for sure.” Reached towards her breasts, groping her as he said. “No reaction whatsoever and they felt perfect for any master.”

“So?” Satou asked.

“Without a doubt the perfect Red collar, I wouldn’t even doubt it, as long as she follows your orders that is.”

“Frostine, come here please.” Satou responded as Frostine instantly dropped to her knees in front of him.

“Definitely loyal to you. I’ll get a red sorted for this one.” The caribou said.

He then paused before looking at Drayce and the wolves before he said. “And what's the deal with you?”

“I was travelling with the group that attacked him, but we were severely injured by some kind of spell, runes filled the sky above us and balls of fire rained upon us, slaughtering all but me and the other slave of my kind you see here. I saw Satou here capture and collar her with my own eyes and drag her away before I fell unconscious. When I next woke up I found these strange things tied around my leg and her asleep with her head against his groin.” Drayce stated.

“And what about the collar?” The guard asked.

“Well, when I came to my senses I realised that I couldn’t survive on my own anymore and saw the value in serving him and asked him to collar me like he did her, and; as you can see; he did as I requested and now I’m happily following his orders.” Drayce admitted.

“I see...” The guard responded before rubbing his chin and saying. “Well, if you chose this fate I have no right to judge you for it.” The guard walks over to Satou before passing him a sheet of paper. “Take this inside with you and go to the castle and someone will get you the collars you need. Also in terms of everything to purchase your other slaves and the cart along with the city's entrance tax it comes to 155 bits.” He reminds Satou.

Satou didn’t respond, pulling out a bag of bits. “This should be enough for you; correct?” He dropped the bag into Caribou's hand before he opened the bag of bits, walking up to a table and emptying it out before counting out the bits.

“That's more than enough for what we asked.” He responded, passing the spare bits back to Satou. “You're free to go into the city. Just go directly to the Crystal Place in the centre of town and hand them the note, they’ll sort the papers for all your slaves and collars linked to you specifically.”

“Thank you very much.” Satou said with a smile before returning to his cart before saying. “Girls, you can get back on now.” Frostine climbed back into the cart before Satou added. “Eliza, sit next to me for this bit.” As he pats the seat next to him. Nodding, Eliza pushed herself up to the seat beside him, Satou pulling her closer next to him.

“Now let's get inside you two.” Satou responded before both Sunny and Sapphire began to pull the cart into the empire.

However before he could move; the guard added. “But I would suggest you get some collars for your wolves, wouldn’t want them getting lost would we.”

“I’ll look into it.” Satou responded. “Thank you for the advice.”

“It’s my pleasure.” The guard said before allowing Satou to head into the city.

Once they were out of sight of the Caribou guards; Satou looked to Eliza before he said. “I’m sorry about commanding you as I did, I had to-”

“Don’t.” Eliza looked back at him, not glance, not peek, she’s directly looking at him. “I asked you a question and knew there that you’ll have to act. Remember what I told you yesterday, standing out in the snow?”

“Yes, but it doesn’t mean I feel good about doing it.” Satou stated. “But thank you for playing along with me just then, and sorry for getting you stuck with a collar.”

“At least it’s a colour matching my outfit, a black collar would blend with my suit. But that’s not what you wanted to talk about is it?” She asked as she observed the city's town area.

“No, it was to apologize for breaking my promise, I said; “I wouldn’t speak to you in a commanding tone” and I went and did it anyway. Even though it was for an act, I am sorry for doing it.” Satou responded before leaning in kissing her on the forehead. “Thanks for everything Eliza.”

Eliza shifted a bit away, placing at hand where he kissed. “I’ll let it slide, but refrain from actually treating me as your ‘little sister’.”

“Kinda hard not too, it comes more naturally to treat you like one, rather than any other way.” Satou stated as he looked around the streets.

While he did; he found many females all bound to posts, their legs bound open and legs stretched wide. Many of them had pools of white liquid around their bodies, others being held against walls being raped as they screamed in pain with others trying to run from them while other males either captured and abused them or pinned them down and raped them where they lay.

“This is horrific, I can see why Sunny didn’t want to come here.” Satou whispers to Eliza.

“As much as I want to step in and free them; I ‘know’ it’ll have casualties.” She whispers back.

“Right now we don’t want to throw away the fact we’re both not under any influence causing us to do anything like this to the others.” Satou responded. “If push came to shove; we could once we gain influence try to build something to allow us to protect them from this if they don’t desire it” He added; seeing many of those being tied to posts had black collars around their neck.

“Yes. If my creator knows about this… He may be able to stop this head on. But he isn’t here.”

“Which is why it falls to us to work to correct this ourselves.” Satou responded. “And I’m glad you are here to help me.”

Nodded her head, Eliza looked more; her sight spotted familiar shape crystals. “Say, do those crystals look to be shaped like males genitals?” Gesturing towards the object.

“They do, but it does seem to be a strange design choice,” Satou stated as they got closer to one of the objects as they saw what looked to be no more than children being forced down on top of smaller crystals of the same shape, many of the Caribou looking to laugh at them as they did.

“Those definitely aren’t normal crystals, it’s giving off a strange aura but I can’t identify what it is.” Eliza’s eyes looked at the two mares pulling the cart, Sapphire looked out of focus and Sunny looked like she'd gotten drunk. She tapped Satou shoulder and pointed at the mares. “And I think it’s showing its effects.”

“I guess, but why isn’t it affecting you?” He asked before looking behind him to find Frostine shaking, as her hands began wandering towards her groin.

“One of my guesses is that I’m genderless despite my appearance. Or that I’m immune to manipulations or controls. That’s as far as I can guess. But I would ask the same for you?”

“I have a high resistance to something called the Crystal Cock, it was something that appeared two days ago in front of me, almost like it was part of an information log on a computer game.” Satou stated.

“Well that confirms my suspicions. And it appears if there's too many of them exposed, well...” She gestured towards everyone except Satou and herself.

“Do you think those crystals could be what's causing everything?” Satou asked, receiving a nod from her. “Then we’ll need to be careful around everyone.”

They stayed quiet through the rest of the trip as they went towards a large castle that looks to be made out entirely of crystals at the centre of town.

As they reached the doors to the castle, Satou looked at everyone as he asked. “Are you all feeling okay?”

“Oh I’m fine master, isn’t this place just breathtaking? Everything's made to be suitable for any master and even the most useless slave to be trained to become perfect!” Sapphire response with glee. Sunny; to the surprise of Satou and Eliza; agrees with that same expression as Sapphire.

Satou looks behind him to see Frostine twitching in the back of the wagon, the ground covered in a large wet patch on the wood below her. “And I take that as a yes.”

He stops the wagon near the entrance to the palace, climbing out of the driver seat and walking to the other side, holding his hand out to Eliza. Taking his hand, she uses it to help her get down even though she can get down on her own. “Thank you.”

“No problem, I’m happy to help you.” Satou responded with a smile before turning back to find that Sunny had her face just centimetres away from his crotch. “Sunny, what are you doing?”

“I don’t know; master.” She responded; sounding slightly scared before Satou pushed her away.

“Stop that and behave yourself.” Satou ordered.

“Yes master.” Sunny responded instantly before turning away from him and dropping onto all fours standing in front of Satou as Sapphire did the same, but where Sunny was trying to keep her tail down, Sapphire had it raised high not hiding anything.

Meanwhile, Eliza was helping Frostine down when she saw what they were doing and she walked up to Sapphire before pulling Sapphire away by the ear. “Down girl.”

“B-but.” Sapphire responded as she grind her legs together, a small puddle appearing on the ground below her.

“No ‘But’s’.” Eliza said sternly; but then leaned to the mare's ears as she commanded in a whispered tone. “You're mine so I order you to resist the desire and pleasure, understand?”

“But I…” Sapphire began to say before pausing as she said. “I-I’ll try mistress.” However her tail still remained up.

“Good enough.”

Satou looked to the group before saying. “Let's get inside before anything else happens.” He began to walk towards the door to the palace.

“Actually I will stay with the cart.” Drayce responded before adding, “I’ll be here if you need me.”

“I understand Drayce, we’ll see you later on.” Satou responded before the remainder of the group continued on towards the palace, while every Caribou looked over the Sapphire, Sunny, Frostine and Eliza as they followed with everyone else following close behind Satou as he went.

Chapter 4 (Rewritten)

The group enters the building, looking around them as they walk through the main hall to see very revealing images and statues of mares standing below stallions or doing other ‘activities’. Around the room were hundreds of mares all bound in compromising positions with many men standing either around them or using them, a wide majority of the mares screaming in pain or crying and others begging for them to stop.

As they walked through the room, many of the males in the room who weren’t currently using one of the bound females looked towards Satou before going back to their business.

After a couple of minutes, they were stopped by a large caribou who wore bright armour covered in jewels of some kind. He had dark brown skin and short black hair along with blue eyes and two long caribou antlers. Kneeling by his feet was a grey mare with comb-back black mane and tail, her eyes were red with light green instead of white as a magenta wisps flowing from her mascara and her horn is smooth and curved a bit and halfway turned to bright red instead of grey. An hourglass figure and big breast and curvy hips.

It was then that the Caribou looked towards Satou and said. “So~, you are the new male that came to my town, I have a lot of questions I want to ask you.”

“You have questions for me? I’m sorry but I’m afraid I don’t know who you are.” Satou responded.

The caribou seemed to chuckle before speaking. “Well considering this is the first time you have been here, I very much doubt you have.” The caribou then smirks as he adds. “My name is King Dainn, and I am the current King of the Crystal Empire.”

‘So he’s the one who has made it so all females are seen as objects or slaves,’ Satou thought to himself before he said while bowing. “Well, It’s a pleasure to meet you King Dainn.”

“What do you know, an outsider who knows how to show respect to royalty, that in itself is a rarity.” King Dainn said with a commanding tone. “Now; come with me so we can talk in private.”

“Of course.” Satou responded as he looked towards everyone before gesturing for them to follow him as Dainn led the way down the hall.

Once they reached the end of the hall; they walked into a room that had a table in the centre with two chairs on each side along with small mats on the floor that looked to be for a dog to use.

Dainn looked back to Satou and said. “Please sit, and your pets can use the floor as they should.”

Satou looked to Dainn before nodding his head in agreement as he sat down while everyone else other than Eliza who had decided to stand in front of the girls like a shield sat down on the mats as instructed.

“Why is that slave not sitting on the floor, just like those lesser beings should?” Dainn asked as he glared at Satou, “get her down now before I get someone to put her down!”

Satou then looked towards her before saying “Eliza, do as he says.”

Eliza looked at him for a moment before kneeling on one knee but still stood in front of the other girls.

Dainn then looked at her in annoyance before standing up and walking over to her before kicking her in the side of the head, his foot making contact with her head; but not doing anything. “Just get on the floor, you stupid useless bitch!” She ignored his foul tongue language.

“Get your slut to lie on that mat like the bitch she is!” Dainn ordered Satou.

“Eliza… Lie down on the mat like the others are.” Satou responded, his voice faking a command but clearly unhappy with how she was being treated.

Sighing, she sat on the mat before asking Satou. “Should I give him the same choice that I gave to the guard outside brother?”

Dainn then suddenly began to laugh before he said. “So this slut is your sister… That makes it even better. I’m sure she’ll make the perfect slave for you once she learns to respect her better.”

Satou just sat there; gritting his teeth before taking a breath. “Eliza, for now, don’t do anything and don’t speak unless spoken too.” She thought about this for a moment before nodding her head in understanding.

“Right. Now those lesser beings are where they belong; we can talk about what we needed too.” Dainn said, his voice still commanding authority but now a bit calmer.

“I can understand that, although it may have been best if; at least; one of them was in the position to serve my needs.” Satou responded as if trying to start a conversation with the man in front of him.

“Maybe it would have been, but I wanted to test your character before I let any slut have her time with you.” Dainn stated. “I want to know about you. I have only ever seen four other beings like you in this world since I moved my kingdom here.”

“Four others like me?” Satou responded. “I thought me and my sister were the only one of us here.”

“Oh no, there are at least four, called themselves ‘cardinal heroes’ or something like that. Honestly; none of them were very heroic if I am being honest.”

“Well, I’m sure we’ll encounter them one day.” Satou responded, looking down to check on the girls.

“That you will!” Dainn responded with a chuckle before saying. “But now… I want to know about you, to start with; where you came from?”

“To be honest with you, I can’t really answer that. The last thing I remember was waking up next to a place called Frosted Valley, where I climbed to the top to try and work out what was near me when I saw a low lying mist fill the valley.”

“That's strange, I heard from a guard that some strange magic was sensed there, two days ago?” Dainn stated.

“I can’t say anything about the strange magic. But I was there when it happened. I blacked out and I regained my senses, I looked back into the valley, but the cliffside became unstable and I fell back to the bottom of it and found almost everything dead and the ground melted. When I got back up I was attacked by the Lizard-men you see with me, I managed to knock her unconscious and then I found a silver collar with runes on it next to some of the other dead Lizard-men. When I picked it up it attached itself to her neck and I took refuge in a nearby cave for the night and when she woke, she suddenly became submissive and loyal to a fault.”

“I understand, it appears you were attacked by the escapes from that idiot's estate. He somehow got caught off guard and released all his slaves before being killed by them, we found a corpse a few days back which looked like the bodies had been feasted on by the same creatures like the slave you have there.” Dainn responded before continuing to say. “But I must say, you are very lucky to have captured just a fine specimen, no less than the princess of the Frost Lizard-men. A perfect catch and a suitable slave to serve you.”

“I had no idea that I had captured royalty, I feel a bit honoured for that achievement.” Satou responded in surprise, looking at Frostine. Who was curled up in a ball on her mat, rubbing herself between her legs aggressively whilst moaning.

“Well, you should do, It’s an impressive feat to capture one, I mean the whole race is supposed to be more powerful than any of the pony races.”

‘‘Supposed to be’ must be the key word here, otherwise this world has a very low level.” Satou thought to himself, “If her kind is as powerful as you say, I should take my time to train her in more ways than one. Maybe beyond being my first slave, being the first of my bodyguards as well.”

“Now I like your way of thinking. The male's bodies as extremely tough and durable can take a beating and keep going, being that are a virtually useless race keeping their males as slaves is perfectly acceptable. Besides; they are no less than animals anyway.” Dainn stated before adding. “And the females, they are just perfect in every way, more durable than the men; if a bit weaker strength wise, but their speed, magic pool and elemental resistance is spectacular! It's a shame we only ever found that one village and almost all of those females couldn’t be tamed. If we had; they would have made perfect slaves in every way.”

“How many have you seen still alive?”

“Very few fertile females sadly, I’ve seen only two since we captured them, your slut, and the queen of theirs, shame she couldn’t take my cock, broke her in under a week and had to put the poor thing down, it’s a shame really.”

“I suppose it is a shame, I suppose I’ll have to make sure to not overwork her, so she lives long enough to give me plenty of strong offspring from her. I should probably invest in some strong male breeding stock for her when I can.” Satou responded, sounding almost serious about what Dainn was saying, but inside; he felt repulsed by what he had said.

“Agreed. If you need them I’m sure I can get you a good deal on a few young males for her, and if incest of your thing, I maybe give you her little brother to keep for her to use, I doubt the slut would care.” Dainn responded as if it was normal for siblings to do that with each other.

“I’m sure she would love it.” Satou lied with a smile as he thought ‘love to have her little brother back that is.’

“I’m curious, have you ever used that sister of yours. Who am I kidding; I bet you have and I bet she felt divine when she served you.” Dainn responded curiously as he looked to Eliza. “How was your first time pleasing your master?” She didn’t answer as she just stared back at him.

“I asked you a question slut! I expect you to answer me!” Dainn shouted in anger. She still didn’t answer.

Satou then interrupted before he said. “Actually you're majesty; we never have, our parents were against the whole idea and forbid it. They only passed away recently and from what little I remember of my past, I brought her with me.” He then looked to Eliza before saying. “Did I forget anything?” She shook her head for an answer.

“Your master asked you a question Slut! He expects you to answer him back!” Dainn shouted at her maliciously as he looked to begin to stand up again.

“Eliza, I need a verbal answer.” Satou responded nervously trying to prevent Dainn from walking over to her and attacking her again.

“No, brother.” Eliza answered as Dainn sat back down.

“I see, well; I suppose now that they have passed, I should allow you to make up for the lost time. It’s only right that you should be the first male both the princess and your sister carries the offspring of.” Dainn responded, his voice calmer.

“I suppose your right,” Satou responded. “It would be a shame if I never got to witness that myself.”

“I’m sure we could give you a nice room to use them both for the first time, make it a nice place to finally truly claim them as your slaves as wives.” Dainn responded.

‘Okay, this man is a horrible creature. How detached from reality are their kind?’Satou thought in disgust.

“Although I can't help but notice the problem with two of your slaves, one still got a silver collar while your sister does not have one. I would have thought the guards at the gate would have issued you with a slip to get everything you need.” Dainn stated.

“He did.” Satou stated, passing the slip of paper the guard had given him to Dainn. “I didn’t know who to hand it to so everything could be issued to me.”

Dainn stayed quiet for a moment before looking at the slave by his feet and said. “Sombra; please take this to the offices and collect the needed articles for Mr… I’m sorry, the name on this is incomplete, it appears they didn’t write your name down to place on our records. Could you please tell me your full name so we can rectify this for you?”

“Of course, my name is Satou, your majesty.” Satou responded.

“Your full name is what we need. I know your kind, you normally have three parts to your names do you not?”

“I don’t I’m afraid, I have a surname though.” Satou stated. “It’s Pendragon, Satou Pendragon.”

“Okay then,” Dainn responded before writing something on the slip before passing it to Sombra as he said. “please take Mr Pendragon’s information when it’s needed and bring back everything he needs.”

“Yes, Master.” Sombra responded, almost seeming a bit scared as she ran out the room.

“Now, I think that covers most of what I need to ask for now, but one thing is still bothering me.”

“What is the problem your Majesty?” Satou asked.

“I’m curious on how you managed to survive the lizard-men attack. I would like to see your skills firsthand tomorrow morning. I will obviously offer you all a room for the night to allow you to recover from your travels and to finally properly claim your slaves as your own.” Dainn offered.

Satou paused for a moment, took a calm breath before he answered. “It would be an honour, and we are truly grateful for your taking time out of your day to speak with us and for the hospitality you are showing us.”

“It’s my pleasure, besides, if you are capable, I’m sure we can come to some suitable arrangements that would mutually benefit us both.” Dainn responded. “But that will be decided on if you prove capable tomorrow.”

“I suppose we will have to wait and see.” Satou responded calmly with a bit of pride.

“Oh; we will.” Dainn responded walking towards the door. “My slave shall bring the new collars and paperwork to you then direct you to some rooms. I will have some chefs bring you some food befitting a guest of mine and the best we can give to slaves.”

“Thank you you're Majesty.” Satou responded as he stood up, bowing his head before looking at everyone as he said. “What do we say to the king to thank him; ladies?”

“Thank you for taking your time and breathing the same air as us useless whores, your majesty, we are truly blessed,” Sapphire, Sunny and Frostine responded, all three of them through moans of pleasure. Eliza looked to just repeat them but was mechanical and did not show any sign of pleasure.

“I suppose it will suffice.” Dainn responded as he walked out the room, closing the door behind him.

As soon as Satou was sure the group was alone he quickly moved over to Eliza. He said in worry. “Are you okay, I’m so sorry for everything that just happened.”

The mech armoured women stood up and yawned. “Don’t be, I felt something telling me to punch that false king's muzzle,” Eliza said with a shrug. “don’t know why.”

“Still maybe better you resist those urges.” Satou admitted before changing the topic. “How much of what he said did you catch about Frostine?”

“None, was too focused on protecting the girls.” Eliza admitted.

“From what he said, they have her little brother as a slave here and she may be the last female of her kind. From the sound of it he murdered her mother, also beyond that she seems to be the Princess of the kind… and with her mother's death, now the queen.” Satou responded.

“This is no place to have that conversation, let's postpone that when we have more time.”

“Agreed.” Satou responded. “Can you help me check on everyone until that slave of Dainn’s returns?” She nodded in agreement before checking over each of the girls.

Half an hour later; Sombra returned into the room, carrying multiple pieces of paperwork along with four new collars which she placed on the table before saying. “You’ll need to sign the ownership documentation for your slaves and replace the old collars with new ones; linked to you. If they get lost; the collars will allow someone to track them back to you.”

“I see...” Satou responded as he sat at the desk, looking over the forms. “So I need to sign here on each form?”

“That is correct.” Sombra responded before adding; “Also; while the admins were collecting everything, I thought your slaves could use some nourishment, since they carried you all the way from the Frosted Valley with very little to feed them.”

Sombra then walked to each of the mats, placing two dog bowls next to each. One filled with water in one and a familiar white liquid in the second. She placed them in front of Sunny, Sapphire and Frostine before reaching Eliza.

Placing both dog bowls in front of her before looking at her to find Eliza had taken off her blindfold and was now staring at Sombra, her eyes giving off a faint, hard to see white glow. After a few moments, Sombra’s eyes dulled, her eyes slowly going misted over as her body relaxed before she lazily looked at Eliza, unable to look away from her.

Eliza put the blindfold back on as she asked. “Do you hear me; Sombra?”

Sombra didn’t respond instantly, just simply nodding her head in agreement to start with before quietly saying. “Yes mistress.”

“What the hell did you just do?!” Satou shouted in surprise.

Eliza looks back to Satou. “I hypnotize her.”

“Wait… what? Since when could you do that?” Satou asked, still confused.

“This whole time.” She said. “From the day I arrive to now.”

“And you didn’t make me aware of that ability, why?”

“I don’t need to tell you everything I can do. If I did tell you, what would you have done if you knew?”

“For one; be aware of it and know be like this when you end up hypnotising someone… Actually why did you hypnotise her?”

“So I have more eyes and ears around here, also if I need something.” Eliza simply explained.

“The question is… do we need anything at the moment?” Satou asked, looking at Eliza.

“I don’t, but do you?” Eliza asks him.

“Well… there's a lot we could learn, but do you feel okay doing this to her?” Satou asked, looking at the still motionless Sombra.

“If you're asking if I regret my actions, then no.” Eliza said.

“Well… do you want to do the honours?” Satou asked looking back at Eliza.

Eliza looks at Sombra. “Sombra, I want you to listen to what Satou is going to tell you.”

“Yes, Mistress,” Somrba responded as if waiting for her to say something else.

“Well Satou,” Eliza spoke, gesturing to Sombra. “Say what you want to say.”

“Sombra, we want you to respond and relay any information about Dainn’s operations and the locations and if needed prices of people he’s enslaved that would be able to be saved.” He said but paused, looking at Eliza. “It would need to last from now on and be linked to some kind of trigger also linked to either of our voices, and that's at a minimum. But what could we use for it?”

Nod at that; Eliza looked back at Sombra and said in a more command tone. “When I call you Umbra, you will be hypnotized like you are now and do as I say. Understand?”

“Yes Mistress.” Sombra responded without hesitation.

“Wait for a second!” Satou shouted before turning to them. “Sombra, Dainn said something about wanting to see my skills, what did he mean by that?”

Sombra just looked to Satou but stayed quiet not answering his question. Eliza command. “You're permitted to answer his questions.”

“His wishes are for you to be part of the champions competition. It’s a free for all battle where they have his soldiers fight each other to decide who will become his champion. The test was to see who could kill you first. After that, he will take all your slaves as his own to use as he desires.” Sombra stated.

“Why would he want to do that?” Satou asked curiously.

“The previous four heroes before you created a resistance of sorts to fight against the King. He believes that you will do the same, and raise up against him. He thinks all humans only wish to tear down what paradise he has created and erase the true order of the world.”

“And what would happen if I took them down tomorrow?” Satou asked.

“If you managed to defeat everyone he sent to kill you, it’s likely that you would be the one to become his champion, and with that; gain all the benefits that would come from it. You would act as his right-hoof stallion and have a say in everything he does, have free access to the entire castle and any slaves you desire on a whim.”

“So,” Eliza started to say. “In other words die out of suspicion and feeling threatened for his belief, or win to become a second in command. That last option might change depending on the impression Satou gives?”

“Even if it could… it may be worth the risk for the chance to get both our say in this world, and the chance to protect those who don’t want the world order he’s making.” Satou responded.

“That may give us an edge but we can't act on it just yet, we need the right moment to apply the option. But we need more than that to dismount the caribou king.”

“I know, but right now, it’s our best option.” Satou admitted, “I guess I need to be ready tomorrow if only I had some magic and special skills I could use.”

“Sombra, can you bring some basic spells and skills tomes and books; five at most?” Eliza asked.

“Of course mistress. Where would you want them delivered to?” Sombra asked.

“Here for Satou to learn, make a convincing excuse for anyone that asks about it.”

“Of course Mistress.” Sombra responded with a nod of her head. “Will that be all?”

“I think so, go back to doing what you were doing.” Eliza answered.

Sombra's eyes then slowly returned to normal before she turned to Satou and said. “I hope your paperwork is sorted, so I can get everything finalised for you.”

“Yes, it’s all done and signed ready for you.” Satou responded. “I’ll make sure to collar them all once you go.”

“As they all should be,” Sombra responded. “I will let your slaves finish their meals and be back with your version of the documentation you just signed.”

Before she could go, Eliza said. “Umbra.”

Sombra's eyes went blank again. She turned to Eliza and said. “Yes mistress?”

“Don’t forget to get the tome and books when you come back. Also, when you revert back to Sombra; be nice to us when we’re the only ones in privacy.”

“Of course Mistress.” Sombra responded with a curtsy.

“Just want to make sure, now continue what you're doing, and also apologise for calling us slaves before you go when you revert back.”

“Of course, I will endeavour to do so.”

“Then return to what you were doing.” Eliza said.

Sombra’s eyes reverted to normal again. She looked to Eliza and said. “I am sorry for calling you a slave.” She then shook her head. “Why did I say that?” Before walking out of the room, picking up the forms from the table and she leaves everyone in the room alone.

“So… You do realise you are going to be stuck eating that disgusting stuff right?” Satou said as he looked to Eliza.

“Don’t worry about the food.” She reassured him. “Water is all I need, but when we leave; I will prepare my food. I’m avoiding the semen.”

“You do realise that's likely the only thing they’ll give you while we’re here, you can’t survive without food forever?”

“If I was normal then yes, but I’m not. So please drop the subject.”

“I’ll try, but I do worry for you all. You know that right?” Satou stated, looking at Sapphire, Sunny and Frostine to see them eating out the bowls like dogs, each of their mats having a large puddle covering them. “And I don’t want to think how they will all come out of this mess.”

“I don’t even know, but all we can do is hope, my creator would wish that for us.” She said.

“That's all any of us can ever do.” Satou responded before adding. “If only I could transfer my resistance stats onto objects to give them, like the collars. Maybe that could be used to weaken the effect of this Crystal Cock thing has on them all.”

“All we can do is; when the time is right, we keep the collar and those odd crystals away until they are cleaned out of the effect, though I fear that Sapphire might be like that before she was exposed to the stuff.” Eliza said.

“I think the correct term for that is that we know she was.” Satou responded with a shake of his head. “It’s something that we’ll need to get trained out of her.”

“If she was like that before; I doubt she would agree when she returns to normal but let's hope it isn’t and leave it at that.” She responded.

“I suppose, but if our plan does come off, would we ever get far enough away from the stones to get them clean of that stuff?”

“If I have to guess on how it works, separate all the crystals away from one another or probably destroy them. Their power is stronger while theirs more within reach which is a three-yard radius. Getting those collars off will make it easier since they give off the same effect as the crystal thing. But for the males, we just need to get rid of the crystals. After that, let the effects fade away in time.” She explained in theory.

“But even with that in place, we’re still stuck on the moot point that under Dainn’s laws; every mare seems to have to wear a collar, so we’ll need a loophole in that.”

“I’m sorry, I don’t have anything that will help that concern the law.” She said apologetically though it didn’t give the ‘feeling’ from the words.

“It’s not a problem, we barely know the laws as it is to find those loopholes… but those collars...” Satou began to say before pausing in thought.

“What is it?”

“When I first met Frostine, I unwittingly used that collar on her, some golden runes appeared all over it. If we could work out how to decipher the runes and reverse the effects, we could create collars that reduce the effect on the wearer rather than enhance it. But we’d need to know the language the Caribou write their runes in to even try that.” Satou stated as he looked over the runes on the new collars. “Enhance…. Something I can’t read, Lust, adoration, mindless, it’s like their all words that seem to take effect on the person wearing it.”

“I wouldn’t know.” Eliza walked towards the other girls and stood at attention like she was during Dainn and Satou conversation earlier.

“Well, as much as I hate the idea of this, I’ll need to place the new ones on each of you before we leave the room.” Satou stated, holding a black collar in his hands. “You ready; Eliza?”

“Don’t worry, it won’t affect me. I can disarm it when we’re outside of reach.” Eliza said as she stood there waiting.

“Okay.” Satou responded, walking up behind her. Placing the collar around her neck and it sealed in one continuous loop around her neck as the golden runes flared up along it before slowly fading, the marking still remaining on the collar itself, along with the word Pendragon on the front of it. “And done, any changes you can sense?”

“None, I do have the same immunity as my creator.” Eliza tapped at the black collar before looking back at the others. “But what would happen to them when they have a new collar attached?”

“I don’t know. They could go deeper into this madness, remain the same, or even end up submitting to every carnal desire they have as they try to get me to… do that with them.” Satou stated nervously as he reached for the second black collar. He then took a breath before he said. “Girls come here.”

Sunny, Sapphire and Frostine all perked up before running to sit at Satou’s feet, looking up at him. A continuous line of liquid along the floor from the mats they were on to where they were sitting.

“Sunny, head up.” Satou ordered as he sat on a chair before Sunny placed her front hands onto Satou’s legs, using them like a dog's front paws before raising her head giving him access to her collar. After a few seconds; Satou reached behind her neck, expecting her to recoil like normal. Only for her to do nothing except continue panting like a dog as her collar suddenly disconnected from her neck falling to the floor.

As soon as she heard the collar hit the ground she looked up at Satou and began whimpering her eyes glistened in tears that started to form. Within a few seconds; Satou rubs her behind one of her ears which somehow calms her down before he places the new collar around her neck. The same process with Eliza happened for Sunny. Once the light faded she seemed to blink if only for a moment before rubbing her head against Satou’s arm affectionately.

Satou repeats the same thing with Sapphire. But instead of tearing up and whimpering when her collar was removed; she seemed to go crazy, lashing out at everything; like a feral animal specifically focused on her old collar trying to get it back around her neck.

Satou looks back at Eliza before asking. “Mind helping me with her?” To which she nodded, before she quickly hooked her arms under the frantic mares arms. Satou quickly attached the new collar to her neck and she instantly calmed down.

But instead of returning Sapphire to a dog-like state; her mind seemed to clear as she shakily said. “Why are you holding me like this mistress?” Confusion clear in her voice.

“Counter question, how do you feel?” Eliza asked as she let the mare go.

“Like a bitch in heat.” Sapphire responded crudely.

“Truthfully, what would you want to do?”

Sapphire looked at Satou before she said. “Let master fuck me silly.” She rubs her legs together, panting hard.

Eliza whispered to Satou; “Continue the last one.” before moving Sapphire to the side to ask her more questions and also to give Frostine a place to lean on while Satou switched her collar. “And, what about me?” Eliza asks Sapphire.

Satou tones out their conversation, looking over to Frostine and saw that her eyes almost looked to be brimming with tears before he'd even started. “Have you been able to hear the entire time?” She nodded her head, still unable to speak. “Okay, head up, if we’re lucky this may help you.”

Frostine complied, lifting her head with pleading eyes as she waited for her collar to be removed. The second it was is when she wraps her arms around Satou, kissing him affectionately. Her eyes clenched shut as tears started to form in them. Satou seemed taken aback by her actions for a second before allowing her to continue, his hand holding behind her head close.

After a couple of minutes, she slowly broke the kiss before baring her neck to him, he smiled at her actions. Attaching the new red collar around her neck, tears flow openly again. “Master, I-I was so scared, thank you so much! I-I promise to never hide any of my past from you again!” She said whimpering.

Satou didn’t respond to her as he simply placed a hand behind her head allowing her to simply vent everything on her mind as he slowly rubbed the back of her neck. This lasted for a couple of minutes before she pleads. “P-please, save my little brother; master, I’ll do anything for you if you can! I’ll even bear your offspring for the rest of my life!”

Eliza looked over at Frostine but ignored this, she knew that this is his problem. Satou just sighs before bringing her face to him as he said. “Frostine, I will save your brother, but you owe me nothing for it.”

“Nothing at all?” Frostine asked back in surprise.

“Nothing at all.” Satou repeated.

Frostine just stayed quiet for a second, then said; “Thank you!” before kissing him again, this time wrapping her arms around Satou; seemingly swaying her hips as she did.

Eliza rolled her eyes at this then heard Sapphire mutter under her breath. “I really wanted to get that first affectionate kiss from the master.”

“Affectionate kiss?” Eliza asked Sapphire.

“Can you not see how touchy-feely she is with him… I wanted that to be me before her, I mean come on, I’m the slave here who’s been one the longest!” Sapphire stated.

The women tap at her chin in thought. “Did you want to be kissed or you wanted to kiss them?” Eliza asked.

“Why does it matter, all I want is the adoration of my master, is that so bad!” Sapphire shouted.

“Guess mistress doesn’t count to you. Eh.” Eliza shrugged but it sounded more like being disappointed.

“Normal kisses maybe… but I’d prefer to get a long and hard one from below from my master before he fills me with his-” Sapphire began to say before was silenced by Eliza’s kiss on the lips.

Sapphire tried to say; “What-” at a short pause but Eliza brought her back into the kiss for a few more moments.

Disconnecting from the kiss, Eliza looks at Sapphire for a sec, then she answers. “One, you forgot that I’m your master too.” She scold; despite the monotone voice.

“But you can’t give me my own f-” Sapphire began to say before being cut off again.

“Second,” Eliza sternly interrupted. “I didn’t want a lustful servant.”

“But… that's what I was trained to be… what do you want?” Sapphire asked sadly, her ears wilted backwards against her head.

“Self-control, as best you can. And, if you behave well..” Eliza said, her hand reaching down to Sapphire's flanks and squeezing it, getting a small lustful moan from her in the process. Leaning towards her ears, Eliza whispering in a convincing, sweet tone. “I’ll even give you that pleasure from me, my little blue jay.”

“But without a master. I’ll never be able to have my own Foals.” Sapphire responded sadly.

“You know the benefit of being me,” Eliza’s body pressed against Sapphire who’s held up by Eliza’s arms, Sapphire felt something shifting from where one of her legs rub against Eliza’s nether.

Sapphire nervously looked down to see Eliza’s female nethers change, growing into a bulge of a familiar genital. She suddenly dropped to the floor instantly pushing her face against the bulge, her eyes fixated on it before saying, “Please mistress, I need it.”

“When it’s just us.” Eliza said quietly as the new genital retracted back to being a feminine nether as she looked over to Satou. “Are we staying here or leaving as soon as your test is over?” Eliza asked.

“I wish I knew...” Satou responded as Frostine rested her head on his shoulders. “I know Dainn has a room here for the night, but beyond that I have no idea how things will go.”

Eliza looks at Satou, cupping her other elbow as she taps her head in thought. “How are you gonna fight theses “combatant”?”

“Well, I’ll have to use that sword I used earlier; considering the magic gun is out. Even if they are going to be trying to kill me; i don’t want to end up killing them.” Satou admitted.

“That's good to hear.” Eliza said.

“Still, I don’t think it will be necessary to use my sword, almost everyone in the castle caps out at around level 25 with Dainn being an exception at level 75.” Satou admitted. “I might be able to handle them all unarmed unless someone with a higher level appears… or maybe Dainn himself.”

“That would be a problem.” Eliza muttered, breaths out before saying to him. “Don’t go dying, you hear.”

“What do you take me for? Do you think I’d just roll over and die?” Satou responded before adding with a smirk. “Besides I have a younger sister to look after, can’t let her down can I?”

She could only blink before shaking her head at this. “Don’t underestimate your foes by levels or states. They can fool you easily so please, listen to me.”

Satou then brought one of his hands around Eliza as he placed his head against hers before he said. “I am listening to you.” Moving his head back before pulling her head over his shoulder as he hugged her. “And I did promise to be here to protect you, and I don’t break my promises,” He then waited a second before whispering. “especially to family.” If Eliza had heard him or not, she didn’t show it.

So the group mostly sat in silence for the next five minutes, with Frostine constantly wrapping her hands around Satou’s body as she kept rubbing herself up against his.

That is until Sombra walked back into the room, carrying in Satou’s copies of the documents he had signed along with five books which she put down on the table.

“Well, with all that I suppose I should take you to your room for the night.” Sombra stated. “If you would follow me after you get your paperwork.”

Satou walks over to the table, collecting the books and documents from the table. Placing them in his bag before saying. “Everyone. Let's get moving.” Then began to walk towards the door as everyone followed close behind him.

Chapter 5 (Rewritten)

Author's Note

Warning, this chapter contains a sex scene, you will get a warning when it starts if you don't want to read it you can skip to the next break in the text.

We both hope to hear from you, and be aware this was our first attempt at clop, so don't be too harsh.

Thank you

Chapter 5 (Rewritten)

It was a quiet walk through the dull hallways. Satou, Sapphire, Sunny, Frostine, Eliza, along with Sombra who’s leading them to their assigned room.

This took a few minutes with the group passing many females chained against the walls in compromising positions, just like when they had seen at the entrance earlier.

Sombra eventually stopped before placing a hand against a door before saying. “This will be both yours and your slave's room, Mr Pendragon. If you hear any noises outside your room, don’t worry, it’s likely just one of the slaves outside getting treated like they should be.”

“Thank you, we’ll keep that in mind.” Satou responded with a smile as Sombra passed him a key.

“I have taken the liberty of getting your slave's water & food bowls filled for you as well before I collected you and will send a slave to you later to bring you some food suitable for Omnivorous races like yourself.”

“I would be grateful for that.” Satou responded with a nod of his head before walking in the room with everyone else following suit, Sombra went in a second later.

The room had a single large bed at the back of the room. It has crystal frames, looked to be capable of holding four people and looks to be in good condition. A single crystal table-desk and just on the roof is a candle in a glass lantern for the light to light the room. Room also had a large table against the wall that had a chair in front of it which was flanked by two large dog beds. Above the desk was a slidable crystal window that revealed parts of the entire city outside.

“Is there anything else you require from this slave for now?” Sombra asked.

“I should be fine unless…” Satou said before looking at Eliza as he closed the door behind them all.

“Umbra.” Eliza said.

Sombra's arms dropped to her side before she said. “Yes mistress.”

“While you were away, was there anything we needed to know?”

“Not much Mistress, only that the king will have around 50 of his best soldiers try to kill Mr. Pendragon tomorrow, and they will be using a mix of archers, mages and warriors to do so.” Sombra report.

“That’s a bit overboard.” Eliza muttered out in calculation but continued as a bit of distraction. “Anything you need to ask Satou?” Satou, however, did not answer as he sat down at the desk, getting each of the tomes out, opening it and began reading all the information contained inside them.

“By the silence, I guess it’s no.” Eliza then turned to Sombra(Umbra). “That’s it then, return to what you were doing.”

Sombra shook her head before she said. “Well I suppose I’d better get back to the king, I have no doubt he has a lot of other things for me to do.” Sombra walks out the room, leaving the group alone.

Sighing; Eliza walks towards the far side of the room and sits upright with her legs crossed, closing her eyes just like at the cave in the cold weather.

“Mistress, maybe not go to sleep this second… or on the floor.” Sapphire said while walking over to Eliza.

One of Eliza’s eyes opened with a raised eyebrow. “Why exactly?”

“There's a massive comfortable bed right there, when do slaves like us get a chance to use one of those! Besides;” Sapphire said, then adding. “You did say that you would give me something later when we were alone… and I bet master and the others wouldn’t care if we did that now.”

“I… don’t know if Satou would like us doing it in front of him, and to be honest, I’m uncomfortable with doing it in front of others.”

“Oh, you’ll need to get over that one fast, you’ve seen the world we live in, it’s only a matter of time before you’ll be bent over in the street, having your clothes torn and raped in the street.” Sapphire stated. “Why not get it over with tonight and get that fear out the way, then you’ll be much happier than you have been, we both will. Besides Satou will need to get used to seeing people around him having sex so it’ll be better if he gets used to seeing it from us first.”

“This is why I need to tame you, you're too horny.” Eliza commented with a convincing deadpan.

“Would help if I wasn’t a bitch in heat...” Sapphire stated, now standing over her. Crouching over Eliza, almost like Sapphire was giving her a strip tease, her own fluids dripping onto Eliza’s clothes. “Besides, maybe you or master sorting me out could correct my behaviour.”

Having both her eyes open, the odd women reach towards the mare's clit and rub the outer edges, causing Sapphire to moan loudly, before she says, “P-please mistress, I need your cock inside me.”

“I’ll give you what you want, but first...” Eliza started, looking over to Satou and asking. “Can we use the bathroom? I rather not have others watch or hear us.”

“Sure, you might as well go right ahead and use it… Unless anyone else needs it first?” Satou asked looking around at everyone to find that nobody needed it.

“Thanks.” Eliza said before looking at Sapphire and walking towards the shower. “Sapphire, come in here my dear.”

“Yes… Mistress.” Sapphire responded slowly making her way towards the bathroom before falling onto the ground as she entered. Eliza closed the door behind them.

“Right. While they’re doing that I'm going to sort things out with Drayce.” Satou responded. “I’ll be back later so behave.”

“Yes master!” Frostine responded happily as she sat on the ground and Sunny lay next to her.

Satou didn’t respond as he nodded his head and made his way out to Drayce and the wolves.

[Warning: From here has “Sex” Genre, if you wish to skip this go for it]

Eliza stood there for a moment, watching Sapphire to see what she would do. She flick her hand and the whole room is covered in a silent barrier. “Do you know why we’re in here?” Eliza asked.

“No mistress.” Sapphire asked as she lay on the floor, her legs spread.

“What do you guess it is, please, indulge me?”

“To start training me?”

Eliza shook her head at the guess, sure it was but that wasn't it. Her nethers began to grow until a bulge under her suit.

Sapphire then nervously looked up before realising what was being offered to her as she quickly made her way over to Eliza, a gleeful smile on Sapphire’s face. “Please mistress, this servant is ready!” She said a breathy and moan tone. She leaned against a bathtub, spread her legs wide and raised her tail as much as she could and began moving her hips side to side slightly.

Eliza started taking her outfit off, first her mech arm, then her slim mech greaves, lastly slipping the black suit off. As the suit fell to her legs is when a large penis and it’s two balls at the base were freed. Walking just behind the heated mare, Eliza formed cock skin pressed up against the Sapphire's smooth butt who gave an unexpected gasp in shock, crystal mare asking. “H-how long is it?”

“Two feet long, two and a half feet thick.” Eliza said when she noticed Sapphire visibly shiver.

“P-p-please, take me as your first Mistress, this slut is ready to be claimed as yours!” Sapphire said pleadingly while trying to keep her legs spread as best she could.

Eliza moves in position, her penis just where the mare's marehood was before shoving it inside. Sapphire squealed in shock before suddenly beginning to moan quietly. Eliza then leaned over to whisper in Sapphire's ear. “You love the feeling?”

“Yes, mistress.” Sapphire responded in a shaky voice as she began to force herself backwards onto Eliza cock.

Eliza thrust and pulled inside the mare in quick succession, her hand grabbing Sapphire’s hips and making her butt follow in sync to help speed things along. Sapphire could feel Eliza's smooth breasts against her back, the feeling of her flank making contact with her mistress skin with every thrust. The feeling of that cock entering inside her, stretching her insides so that she could fit. All the while lying where she was, her tongue out as she panted like a dog between he moans.

It was when Eliza heard Sapphire moan loudly, mare's legs tightened around her holding it inside her like a vice as her body convulsed, as Sapphire screamed. “M-mistress…. Please cum inside! Make me the first one to bear your foals!”

Eliza a bit of concern slipped out. “No, if I cum in you, you will get pregnant tomorrow. I-I can’t do that to ya.” She said, knowing about her own womb having a quick pregnancy and her own cum can impregnate a woman in less then two days. Her breath was growing as the feeling to cum grew more and more. She doesn’t understand, why is she reacting this way? Feelings aren’t possible, so maybe it's some sort of programming she hasn't noticed? She couldn’t process this at the moment.

Sapphire, however, wasn’t listening as she held Eliza in place, her mind lost to the waves of pleasure that was crashing over her.

‘That enough.’ Eliza’s manhood shrank in until it popped out of Sapphire's clit-hole and became a pussy. The woman clutch her thigh together in hope to avoid cuming herself but a bit of wetness drips down onto the crystal floor.

After a minute of waiting; Eliza heard Sapphire mutter. “Mistress, why didn’t you finish inside?”

“I-I,” Eliza was stuttering as she tried to not spill her liquid on the floor. “If I cum inside your womb, you would get a foal size belly aka pregnant in less then two days. I can’t do that to you…”

“Why?” Sapphire asked, her voice sounding distant as if she was falling asleep.

Eliza needed distraction but the feeling of her wetness got more attention as she gave out a cute squeak. She just muttered just barely audible. “Turn around.”

“Uh, huh,” Sapphire responded dazedly, shakily turned herself around to look at Eliza before seeing the woman's pussy leaking fluids all over the ground below her creating a small puddle.

Unexpectedly, Sapphire walked up behind Eliza before thrusting her face into Eliza’s pussy as she began to lick the inside drinking in all the liquid that was dripping to the floor. Eliza gasps in surprise, her body shivering and stuttering, releasing a quiet breathing. Eliza then leaned her upper body and grip the rim of the tub as she moaned out of nowhere. Sapphire’s muzzle pushed up against Eliza’s clitoris before Sapphire began to play with it, slowly making contact before scraping back against it.

That rising feeling in Eliza grew as her breathing increased, the feeling of pleasure grew. She wanted more, don’t know why but she wanted to feel, feel more. “M-more,” She moaned. “g-give me more!”

Sapphire slowly pulled out before wrapping her lip around Eliza’s clitoris, nibbling and pulling on it in multiple directions before flicking it with her tongue. Alternating between the two and forcing her muzzle deep inside her, licking as deep as she could. A gasp escaped the shivering women as a white liquid spilled out, unable to hold it anymore and just let it loose.

Sapphire; however, held her mouth inside, collecting as much of the liquid as she could. Drinking in the taste as she waited for Eliza’s orgasm to subside. When the women did, Sapphire pulled out and walked to the front of Eliza. The woman's breathing had lessened and quivered but at least she's beginning to focus again when she spotted Sapphire in front of her before she was suddenly pulled into a kiss as the liquid that Sapphire had collected was deposited into Eliza’s own mouth as she did.

Surprised by this before holding the mare up against Eliza’s naked body, their breast press against each other. One of Eliza’s hands slid down Sapphire's side until it reached the mare's wet pussy and dug all her fingers(except thumb) inside with thrust and pull, it wasn’t fair if her slave didn't get an orgasm. Her hand is covered in Sapphire's warm wetness, she even rubbed her thumb against her nub, sending a shock of pleasure through the mare as her body convulsed again almost seconds later.

Eliza released their lips and whispered into her sex partner ear in a commanding, sweet voice. “I think that’s enough for today, Cum for me.”

It didn’t take any longer than a second when Sapphire did as she was told as Eliza's entire arm was covered in Sapphire’s fluids before Sapphire fell backwards breathing hard, mare just looked to the ceiling in a lust fueled haze.

The sound of shower head shooting water down and a spit, Eliza stood over Sapphire and ordered. “Time to shower, don’t want my future servant to look dirty after all. You go first.”

It was an hour of washing and cleaning when both girls stepped out of the bathroom all clean and Eliza wearing her outfit again.

Satou then looked towards her as he said. “So… did you girls have fun in there?”

Eliza tisked at Satou. “We aren’t telling you, it’s private business.” Luckily she told Sapphire to never talk about what they do in private before they left out the bathroom.

“It shouldn’t be private.” Frostine replied. “I mean, if what i’ve heard is correct, our master should be able to see everything we do, and in the case of what I think you did watch it happen… So what did you do?”

“Not answering,” Eliza said, not falling for that as she went back to her meditating position. “Sapphire, sit beside me and behave.”

“Yes Mistress.” Sapphire stuttered, shakily walking over to Eliza before sitting down next to her. Resting her head on Eliza’s lap, women brushed the mare's hair like a cat.

“How are you scrying on those tome’s?” Eliza asks, changing the topic.

“Four of the five finished with… This last one doesn’t look to be of any benefit though.” Satou responded. “All it will do will anchor me in a spot, unable to move and make everyone focus on only attacking me for a period of time.”

[Satou move Update]
[Fire Shot: ‘Basic fire spell. Fire a single fireball at a target.’]
[Thorn Bind Hostage: ‘Binding Spell. Creates multiple thorned vine to slow and restrict the movements of a target, cut a vine to deal damage to the bound target.’]
[Aqua Heal: ‘Basic Healing Spell. Heal target for 10% of their max Hit Points.’]
[Aura Saber: ‘Ranged Physical attack. The user jumps into the air and deals a powerful kick at the ground, creating a shockwave that damages nearby enemies.’]
[Anchor Howl: ‘Ranged Taunt. Let out a defiant roar, boosting DEF and taunting all nearby enemies to attack. If they attack anyone else, they will trigger a powerful magic damage counterattack.’]

“It’s not useless.”

“Never said it was… If I was with a party for the fight it would be perfect, but alone it’s just begging for them all to attack me at once and being unable to do anything about it.”

“You do know that they are going to go after you anyway, if I can fight alongside you it would be easier. But I doubt the ‘king’ would like that.”

“I know that.” Satou responded, closing the last book. “But I think that's about everything I can learn from those tome’s, and simply; if I don’t get some rest, I’ll be useless tomorrow anyway.”

“Do so, you need all the rest you can.”

“I know,” Satou responded as he walked over to the bed, taking off his armour and equipment, leaving him in his trousers and shirt as he climbed into the bed and began to get comfortable in the bed.

It was then Sapphire seemed to look up at Eliza before she slowly stood up and forced Eliza to her feet as well to Eliza confusion. “Sapphire, what are you doing?” The android women asked.

Sapphire, however, didn’t respond as she quickly pulled the covers off the bed and forced Eliza to close up against Satou; facing him. Grumbling to herself, Eliza just goes to sleep. She was planning to keep an eye throughout the night for trespassers but it seems her ‘in training’ servant wanted her to sleep on a comfy bed. ‘I’ll punish her tomorrow.’ She thought as she went to sleep, but not before Sapphire pulled herself up tightly behind her, wrapping her arms around both Satou and Eliza.

Eliza heard Sapphire mutter out quietly; “Goodnight master… mistress...” before falling asleep.

“Goodnight.” Eliza muttered before she looked up to find Satou kissing her on the forehead.

Satou said in a calm whisper. “Goodnight Eliza.” As he wrapped his arm around her.

One thing pops in her head as she falls back to sleep; ‘I wish I’d separated at the cave.’ Eliza thought.

Chapter 6 (Rewritten)

Something has gone wrong. We don't seem to have an archived copy of that chapter.

Chapter 7 (Rewritten)

A few minutes after Satou and Eliza left, they arrived at some crudely made palisades fashioned out of crystals that encompassed the city. They’re eyes seeing ripples from the dome beyond them. Creatures already attacking the barrier but not doing much.

“What do you think we’ll find out there?” Satou asked as he looked forwards, bringing his map up in front of him to use the radar to gain information on the area outside the dome.

Eliza looked around before stretching her limb for a moment. “I don’t know.” She answered as she adjusted her sheathed sword on the mech arm that clicked in place, freeing her right hand. Not wanting to hold it.

Rader finished scanning the map. Satou looked outside the Crystal Empire to find a seemingly never-ending swarm of red dots surrounding the entire city. “I’d go with an army of monsters.”

“Then why are we standing around for.” Eliza said, was about to start running in the general direction but Satou pulled her back.

“Maybe stop for a second and think before running into a fight.” Satou said, bringing up the information on a group of the monsters. “There seems to be a variety of different enemies of various types, ranging from level 1 to 13.” He looks at the names of the monsters. “Balloons, Flying Ants and Skeletons.”

“Is that it?” Eliza stood patiently but her greaves tapping the ground impatiently said otherwise.

“For the most of it, seemingly.” Satou responded before zooming the map out as he found a singular larger dot in the distance. “Although maybe there's more?”

“What’s the plan?”

Satou didn’t quickly answer, lost in his own world as he looked over the screen. Trying to trace four blue dots he saw, flickering between the swarm of monsters before disappearing under the mass of red dots.

“What’s the plan?” Eliza asked once more as impatiences became evident in her tone.

Satou shook his head before responding. “I’d think it would be best for you to stay here, maybe keep the guards that I hadn't knocked out alive to defend the empire, tell Dainn that I requested you to support and lead his men when needed and tell him that I think I found the centre of this mess and went to handle it.”

“Can you even fight the swarm on your own?”

“I very much doubt that I am alone in this.” Satou responded as he dismissed the map before pulling his magic gun from his inventory, attaching it to his side along with two swords.

“Any casualties in your plan?”

“If you can keep the guards alive and use the walls to your advantage, then there should hopefully be none.”

“I feel that there are holes in that plan.”

“Then fill them with your own ideas.” Satou responded. “We don’t know what caused this, or what it is. It may be a matter of surviving a period of time or killing a number of monsters or a big boss, we just don’t know enough to create a foolproof plan.”

“I’ll handle the bigger target while you handle the swarm, I’ll tell the “King” to get everyone to safety and help them as best I can. Your thoughts?” Eliza told her plan but sounded for any suggestions.

“Eliza, trust me when I say it’s better for you to take the swarm, If their levels are to be believed, and the balloons are like the monsters we fought when we made our way to the Crystal Empire, I should be able to charge through them with ease, and I know where the boss is right now. You’ll need to fight through the horde and use trial and error to find it.”

She thought this, barely for a moment. “Fine, I’ll take the swarm and you handle the boss.” She said turning towards where she sensed the swarm is. “Let’s not waste any more time.”

Satou sighed before turning her face north. “The main bulk of the swarm is this way.” He said.

“...You're sure?”

“Well the swarm surrounds the entire city so wherever you go is a swarm,” Satou responded, still watching the map as he suddenly jumped over the crystal palisades and ran outside the dome. Eliza left (once he was out of the dome towards the swarm) in mad pursuit.

As soon as Satou exited the dome; he looked ahead of him to see the swarm of monsters in front of him. He saw the monsters consisted of small orange balloon-shaped monsters, a ton of bone colored skeletons that were holding bows and swords, and flying above them were large, brown flying ants.

“So, the highest is level 13 in this group.” Satou said to himself, draws out his two swords from his side before pushing off on his back leg. Cutting through the swarm of enemies, many of them falling almost instantly as he just swung his swords and ran forwards as Balloon Scraps to Skeletal Swords are stored in his inventory.

This continued for less than a minute before he looked behind him, finding almost nothing behind him; apart from a few flying ants that were ignoring him and flying towards the city. “I guess my level is high enough that they don’t naturally attack me unless I’m close enough.” Satou assumes before opening up his map again to find the four blue dots on his map were still moving, but two seemingly slower ones being heavily surrounded. Seeing this, Satou runs to the area with the slowest.

As soon as Satou reached the destination, he glanced at the blue dot. It brought up information on the figure as he saw the name ‘Isaac’; who had little information on him except a title that read ‘Bow Hero’ along with a rapidly declining health pool, with almost no mana left.

‘Maybe help him before he gets killed… Besides, that name looks normal in comparison to any of the ponies or Caribou’s.’ Satou thought to himself before quickly turning in the direction of whoever this “Isaac” was and tearing through any monsters in his path.

After a couple of minutes, he reached the area where he had seen the marker for “Isaac” on the map, looking around to find a large group of monsters congregating on a single point.

Assuming that is where the name person is; Satou quickly moves forwards, cutting each of the monsters down effortlessly. The monsters remaining had kept their distance, Satou looked down at where the group of monsters had been surrounding. Seeing a young man curled up on the ground, his body covered in open cuts and fresh bruises.

The man looked to be in his teen years but Satou wasn’t sure as the pale green mini cloak hood that was mostly damaged covered his head, it was attached to a left rib plate armour, a small cloak over his right shoulder cover and extra cloth draped down his right shoulder blade to his knee, along with brown sideless neck robe down to his lower thigh with the left side reaching the kneecap, while underneath this was a white cloth long sleeve shirt and pants, beyond this he had pale dark green two middle finger long gloves and pale dark green toe guard boots with folded ends. In his left hand was a metal bow that had brass tips while in the center it split into an oval gap which allowed his fingers through along with lots of space, his hand holding a metal handle behind the brass.

Satou knelt down in front of the man. “Are you okay?” he asked, only to get a groan of pain from the young man. “I’ll take that as a no.” Wanting to help the guy, he placed his hand over the man before he said. “Aqua Heal.” What looks to be a small droplet of water fell onto the young man, his injuries began to heal instantly and his health bar reached halfway to full in a matter of seconds.

After a couple of seconds, the young man grunt as he stands up, then looks at Satou for a moment before he speaks. “I’d say thanks, but I’m more curious as to why you are standing inside a wave by yourself.”

“Same could be said for you.” Satou responded.

“The others left me for dead and ran on ahead into the wave. I’m the weakest of the four of us for god sake, they should know I can’t run into a swarm of monsters like that and fight, I’m the damn Bow Hero!” Anger clear in his voice.

“Kid, calm down.” Satou responded before quickly spun around and firing his magic gun into a group of monsters that were coming his way. “Kids must be so low of a level that they are targeting him.”

“I don’t stand a chance! Not on my own!” The Bow Hero shouted, fear clear in his voice.

Satou shook his head before flicking the boy on his head. “Then party up with me.”

“What…” the Bow Hero responded in confusion, recovered from his shock.

“Party up with me, that way we’ve got eachothers backs.” Satou said, ‘And if we’re lucky being with me may keep some of these monsters from targeting him.’

The Bow Hero looked at Satou, seemingly nervous. Satou placed a hand out to him, which he shakily took. “I guess you're right.”

“For one thing kid, stop doubting yourself. You can do things people like them can’t.”

“Okay sir.” Bow Hero responded.

“And two, don’t call me sir. Satou is fine.”

“Then call me Isacc si… I mean Satou.”

Satou only smiled. “Okay Isaac, maybe get me added to your group before more trouble comes our way.”

“How do I do that exactly?” Isaac asked as he rubbed the back of his head sheepishly.

“Seriously?”

“... I don’t know how to.” Isaac responded, head slump in self disappointment.

“Fine.” Satou responded, sending Isaac a ‘Request To Join’ while he looked to check on Eliza’s status. As he looked over them; he found Eliza’s Health Points were still full and that she had no injuries, he sighed in relief. But notice her column was lit in red, indicating that she was currently in a battle.

It only took a few moments when Isaac’s name appeared below Eliza’s. Isaac looks at Satou stats that he could see and shout in surprise. “How are you Level 37!”

“I don’t really think that's a high level in the grand scheme of things.” Satou admitted.

“But, I’m only level 15! I need to know how you got that strong!” Isaac shouted, sounding desperate for any information Satou could give him.

“Not right now you don’t.” Satou said, returning the attention back to their current situation. “Right now we need to know how to survive this.”

“The best way to stop a wave is to kill the boss monster, or wait out the clock.” Isaac responded. “But I don’t know where the boss is?”

“I do, it’s just past the swarm, and to the north. I was going that way until I saw some monsters overwhelming you and came here first. Stick close to me and we’ll be fine.” Satou said. Isaac nodded, running close to Satou who ran through the swarm, with Isaac picking off any monsters that Satou failed to kill.

It took a while, Satou and Isaac reached the location where Satou believed that the boss should have been.

Both look down to a large clearing from atop a cliff face to an open clearing, seeing a huge black three-headed dog that's the size of a two storey building, it gave off a thick black mist that surrounded it’s form obscuring the rest of it from view.

“So… That's the boss.” Isaac said as he looked down at the monster.

“Okay, I want you to use the extra height to do damage to it from this distance, just keep chipping damage off him as much as you can and we’ll beat this.”

Nod at this Isaac paused when his eyes looked back at the area. “It’s not the others… But who’s fighting the boss down there?” Isaac asked.

Satou looked down for what Isaac was talking about and saw a familiar young woman in mech armour dashing around like there's no tomorrow. It only took Satou a few seconds to realise that it was Eliza.

They watched her shooting her unusual crossbow that fired an arrowbolt after arrowbolt; kept reloading in a flash whenever the string pulled back. She seemed to be hitting joint areas whenever she could, and it kept showing the damage of each hit depending one what part she was attacking, usually 99 to 125 damage. One time it was 200 when Satou and Isaac saw her shot at one of its eyes which she soon went for the eyes at the sight of the number being higher. The beast tried to pounce or bite at her, only to miss her.

“Isaac, start focusing on the boss. Don’t hit the person down there. I’m going down.” Satou responded before jumping down into the fight before Isaac could respond. Satou pulled out his magic gun and fired five shots at the boss with three of them hitting the heads of the monster and the other two missing.

Eliza moved far away when Satou’s bullets fired out, following the trajectory of the bullet path to see him sliding to the ground. “You are a liar! Sending me the wrong way when I was right about the other way.” She said out loud before firing more crossbow arrow bolts while moving again but away from Satou.

“Didn’t you run off the opposite way to where I told you?” Satou asked. “Besides; I did say that the whole empire was surrounded by the hordes, so it was just the horde whichever way you went.” He went back to shoot the boss ahead of him four more times, looking at the boss’s health bar that had appeared at the top of his view. ‘Halfway down, so far, this shouldn’t take long.’

“I went the exact same direction you told me to go. I thought I was going to deal with the swarm!” Eliza retorted before flipping back as one of the beasts paw slam where she once stood.

“Enough, I found out some things about this attack from the other guy in our party. It’s called a Wave, and will end by letting the time run down, or killing this thing.” Satou stated. “So let's get this boss killed!”

Eliza didn’t answer as a *click* of a different bolt before firing at its three faces, each releasing a smokescreen with each impact, which Isaac shot a volley of arrows into as they heard a howl of pain from inside the smoke.

“Now it’s my turn.” Satou responded before grabbing one of his swords in his open hand and pushing off the snow on the ground below, kicking the snow below him as he disappeared into the smoke. A blue flash was seen through it followed by a loud howl and two loud *thuds*; one after the other. This was soon followed by the sound of a crackling flame which soon faded. Everything went silent.

Eliza stood there, watching for any movements in the smoke. It soon fades away enough to see and Eliza and Isaac saw Satou standing in the smoke with two decapitated heads of the boss monster on the floor by his feet. Rest of the body was nowhere in sight as blood dripped to the ground from his swords, staining the snow by his feet in red.

“Point hogger.” Eliza muttered, her body relaxing and waiting away from the stained area.

After a couple of seconds, Satou’s body relaxed as well before looking up, flicking his sword as remaining blood flung off from the blade before sheathed it. He looked up to Isaac; who is still where he was. He shouted. “You can come down here now! It's safe.”

Isaac seemed to relax for a moment; then proceeded to slide down the slope towards Satou and Eliza. When he got to the floor, he ran up to them before bowing to him. When he stood straight, he must have remembered something and spoke. “Thank you for saving me and ending this wave, I am grateful.”

“Don’t think anything of it.” Satou responded.

“I need to, I would have been killed if not for you. The others were supposed to help me, but they left me for dead! Hard to believe they were supposed to be adults, can’t even look after a child properly.” Isaac stated.

“I really doubt that you're a child Isaac.”

“Do you count 10 as being a teenager?” Isaac said as Satou paused looking back at him in bafflement. “Because I sure don’t.”

“Wait, you're only 10?” Satou asked in surprise, Isaac just nodded at this.

“That is also another thing about Displace,” Eliza spoke out as she walked towards them. “Physical and mental sometimes are different then what you expect. His appearance looks like a teen but his mind and emotions can be that of a kid, looks can be deceiving.”

“A displace?” Isaac asked as he seemed to grip Satou’s hand like a child would a parent. “W-what is that?” Eliza paused for a second before she began to explain it to Isaac.

“So what, a person or people sent from one world to another? That's what a Displace is?” Isaac asked, still holding Satou’s hand tightly.

“However, we’re different, our appearance changes and gain the powers they have.” Eliza corrected.

“I see...” Isaac responded before looking at Satou. “D-do you mind if I feed the remains of the boss into my bow?”

“Why would I stop you?” Satou asked.

“Because the others may hate you for letting me.”

“Why would they do that?”

“Because the useless little shit doesn’t deserve it!” A voice shouted over to the group from behind them as they turned to see a taller man standing in front of them. He was wearing a noble spearmen attire with faded dark green sweatshirt and glove, red cloth for jacket and shoulder cap, and polish white armour for forearm; legs; shoulder; behind the neck and a bit below the collarbone. Blond hair with a red hairband for his ponytail.

He held a spear in both hands that he had pointed directly at the group, that was white in colour with black and gold trimmings while the spearhead was almost completely black with a large red gemstone embedded into it.

“And you are?” Satou asked as he turned standing defensively infront of Isaac.

“I don’t see why someone like you has the right to ask my name, it’s not like you could even beat me in a fight.” The new figure responded cockily.

Satou then looked to the figure in front of him as some of his stats appeared. He could only see the title Spear Hero, his first name being Fredrick, and level; which is 22. Satou looks back towards the figure. “You know, I could react but I’m not going to waste my time.” Satou responded before saying, “Isaac, feed the boss into your bow, you earned it, you helped defeat it while “he”;’ Satou gesture to the spearsmen. “-hasn’t done a thing in that fight.”

“O-okay.” Isaac responded, moving to one of the remaining heads nervously.

“You do that and I'll kill you myself! You hear me you useless brat!” The figure shouted.

“Says the man who left a child to die, I’d hardly call you any use myself.” Satou responded. “Besides, you didn’t do a damn thing here, he was the one who has the right to use the remains of the boss, he was in the party that defeated it. So take your balloon scraps and skeleton bones and leave.”

“Who do you think you are! Do you know who I am!” the figure shouted as he readied his spear to attack Satou.

“Not in the slightest.” Satou responded with a dismissive wave of his hand. “Now, I suggest you leave, there is no longer a wave here, and I assume you need to get stronger.”

“Satou.” Eliza said beside him, the sound of disappointment in her tone. She must have moved beside him while they were talking. “Don’t antagonize them.”

Eliza’s warning appeared to have come too late however as the figure charges towards the two of them. “I’ll only tell you once, you're a useless, pathetic piece of trash! I am the Spear Hero! I am better than the ground all of you walk on! And am more deserving of any loot and money you get in your entire lives!”

“Eliza… please say I can shut him up?” Satou asked. Eliza didn’t answer him.

The next thing they knew, just as Fredrick got within six feet close to Satou; his spear hitting something that made him stop charging. What he hit surprised him. Standing between Fredrick and Satou was Eliza with her sheathed weapon detached and held in both hands, the spear tip hitting the mechanical armored sheath sides right between a groove. This wasn’t what he expected, deflecting the his spear with it sure, but actually blocking it should be impossible.

“How did a useless human like you block that?” The Spear hero responded glaring at Eliza.

“Now that’s just rude sir.” Eliza said before pushing Fredrick back with surprising ease, he landed a ten feet away. “I would think you’d have some decency of saying such a thing to a girl.” She gently scolds him, holding the sheath in her right hand.

“If you are a woman, then you should know to follow orders from those above you!” the Spear hero shouted at her before once again tried to jab his spear at her.

Eliza dodge to the right, having the spear skid against her sheath that she's using to parry his attack. “Sorry, but I'm no creature, I’m a sane android.” She said before skidding her sheath across the spear before smacking him with sheathed swords pummel and quickly smack the other side of his face for good measure with her jumping five feet back for good spacing.

“You disrespectful little brat! How dare you strike me! Not a single person ever has the right to hit someone like me!” The spear hero shouted in anger then tried to stab her again, jabbing forwards without thinking. She simply dodge each jab, her covered up eyes quickly watching his less average moves. To everyone who’s watching can tell that she's treating this as some sort of dance by the way she evades his attacks.

“Stop avoiding me! Do as I tell you to, you useless piece of trash!”

Eliza dodge a jab and jump away again. “Sorry, but no. I have no reason to listen to a stranger.” She said plainly.

“You should always listen to those who are better than you! And I am better than everyone on this stupid planet!” He shouted in anger.

“Talk big all you want…” Eliza said before taunting with. “Cause you need your head out of the cloud.”

“I am right! And what I say is law! You are all nobodies and everything here belongs to me!”

Having enough of this, Eliza places the sheath back to her right arms side. What happened next surprised Fredrick as she blurred out and within three seconds she appeared behind him. Her blunt sword being sheathed back in slowly. He can hear her speaking. “Flash Sword “Style”: “Caged Catastrophe”!” Quickly sheathed her sword at the moment she said “Style”, suddenly Fredrick felt he was cut everywhere except for his vitals as slash lines appeared all over his body and he gasp in shock and pain just as she shouted “Caged Catastrophe”.

As soon as Fredrick was cut he dropped to the floor, large portions of his armour torn to shreds; leaving most of his body exposed to the cold as he stuttered out. “H-how dare you cut me. I am better than you. You should be doing as I say.”

“No matter how many times you say it I will not do as you say.” Eliza said as she walked back in front of the man, out of his reach of him and spear.

“Ho- How dare you refuse me,” Fredrick responds, seeming to begin to struggle speaking.

“Eliza… I think he needs both healing and a more ‘hands on’ punishment.” Satou suggested.

Eliza walks away. “Do what you want.” She simply said.

Satou slowly made his way over to Fredrick before he said. “You stupid. Foolish idiot.” holding his hand out, whispering; “Aqua Heal” and Fredricks wounds began to heal.

“Why would you?” Fredrick stated before pausing as he felt himself being moved slightly and felt his chest over a harder surface. “What are you-” However before he could finish he felt something strike him.

“Someone needs to teach you some discipline and basic manners.” Satou stated as he began striking Fredrick from behind.

“Wait! Stop! No!” Fredrick shouted after each slap as he started screaming out in pain.

Satou pauses for a moment, looking at Fredrick. “Will you behave and show everyone respect?”

“I’ll behave just don’t hit me, you piece of trash!!” Fredrick shouted.

“Obviously not yet.” Satou responded before continuing striking Fredrick, who was now crying his bare skin bright red.

“I’m Sorry! I’ll behave! Please stop!” Fredrick shouted out.

Satou stops, resting the sobbing man back on the ground before walking away. “That should sort that.”

As Satou walked away from Fredrick, the tearing man stood back up and shouted through his sobs. “This is not the last you have heard of me!” As he ran off into the cold.

“Idiot.” Satou muttered to himself, shaking his head before looking back to the group. “I’m sorry, I don’t know what came over me.”

“Don’t worry about it, besides, Fredrick’s just hot air.” Isaac responded, standing up. He was sitting in front of the first of the boss’s head, having been torn apart with nothing of it’s materials left. “What do you want to do with the other head?”

“We’ll take it with us and mount it on a wall; I think.” Satou responded as he walked over to it, placing it in his bag. “It might as well be the first trophy kill me and Eliza had as a team.”

“A team? Do I not count as part of it?” Isaac asked.

“Well yes, you did help us after all.” Satou responded.

Isaac stood there for a moment, rubbing his foot against the ground. He spoke up seconds later. “C-could I, maybe… stay as a team with you both?” His voice went quiet as he added. “I-I like being around Satou.”

Satou paused at this before placing a hand on Isaac’s head. “Well, I don’t mind it.” He then looks at Eliza before adding. “If you're okay with the kid sticking around that is?”

Eliza only looked at Isaac with her usual neutral; yet observing expression as Isaac lookback at her nervously. Isaac gripping Satou’s hand tightly. It was a moment later that she sighs. “I don’t know. That depends,” Eliza looked at Satou. “Whether Satou wants to be loyal to King Diann or to Isaac?” She gestured to the empire. “He can’t live in a place like this,” She looked back to Satou again. “Satou, I won’t let him stay here no longer than a single day.”

Isaac decided to speak up. “Actually, I lived in the empire for a bit already… before the others left and dragged me out with them, ordering me to join this “resistance” of theirs against my will.”

Satou glanced at Eliza, adding. “In the end, it’s his choice to make, we are not his parents, nor is he a son to either of us.”

Eliza sighs once again. “Satou, I can’t continue acting with him around. It was already hard just to avoid taking things in my own hand.”

“I promise, I won’t get in your way, or make it harder on you both.” Isaac responded bowing his head. “I just don’t want to be alone anymore.” He looked back up. “Please I’ll do anything!”

She closed her eyes and took a few breaths before answering. “Fine,” Her eyes open in great focus on the young man. “But if I reach my limits; I want you, Satou and the girls out of here. I rather take the blame when I start hurting others.”

“You won’t start hurting people Eliza.” Satou interrupts. “I know you will do everything you can to protect everyone.”

“You don’t know that.” Eliza muttered.

“I know you don’t want anyone you care for; even if you don’t know why you do; getting in trouble, and that's why I’m willing to take my chances and trust you.”

“Agree or not?” Eliza asks, sounding annoyed.

“I’ll agree to those terms!” Isaac shouted out before Satou could respond as Isaac quickly ran forwards and hugged Eliza, his head resting between her breasts.

“Uh-um.” The young women stuttered, not sure how to respond to this.

It took only a few seconds before Isaac let go before looking to the ground in embarrassment, “I’m sorry, I don’t know what came over me.”

“I-it’s okay, no harm done.” She said reassuringly.

“You sure?” Isaac asks as he looks up to her, clearly still embarrassed by what happened.

“Yes. Like I said, no harm done.”

“Okay.” Isaac responded while looking away slightly from Eliza.

Satou could only chuckle at this before he spoke up. “Shall we make our way back to the empire?” To which Eliza nodded her head and Isaac grabbed Satou’s hand, causing a chuckle from Satou before the group walked back to the Crystal Empire.

Once the group arrived back at the edge of the empire; they looked around to find that the city wasn’t hit too badly with only some of the crystal palisades having been destroyed and few of the houses near them having minor damage that could easily be repaired.

“Looks like things went well here as well.” Satou responded, looking at Eliza.

“Probably, if this happens again...” Eliza paused at what she thought of, shaking her head. “We only have enough time to act, can we even do what we were intending anymore?”

“We can always only try.” Satou responded.

“Remind me what it was again?”

“I believe it was to use my link to the king to get us both our say in this world, and the chance to protect those who don’t want the world order that we thought he was making or was it to help protect people like us?” Satou responded.

“The former.” Eliza responded before she leaned in to whisper. “At night I will be using my sonar to find the previous rulers and locations of the “crystals”.”

“Unless Sapphire tries to get you in the bed again.” Satou responded.

“That’s a big “if”.”

“I have a feeling that's something I should be ignoring.” Isaac responded nervously as he gripped Satou’s hand as tight as he could.

“It’s for the best.”

The group continued walking through the town, many of the civilians were continuing to act as they seemed to always be, some of the stallions stopping and dragging their mare towards him to; in many cases; thank him or even try and get him to do tasks for them, some of them including getting loot from nearby monsters.

After a couple of minutes, the group reached the palace again, Satou spoke. “I suppose we best report to Dainn.”

“Yea, we should. When I mean “we” I meant “you”.”

“It would be better if you could come with me to collect the girls and take them back to the room.” Satou pointed out as they walked through the halls, Eliza just nodded in agreement.

“Very well.” Eliza said in response.

Once the group reached the throne room; they walked inside to find Dainn sitting on his throne with Sombra sitting next to him on a dog bed curled up while looking towards the door.

Dainn noticed Satou entering and stood up, walked over to Satou with a smile on his face as Dainn greeted him. “Satou, thank you so much for stopping the invasion!”

“I can’t take all the credit for it, I couldn’t have done it without Eliza’s and Isaac’s help.” Satou admitted.

“Wait... Isaac?” Dainn responded before noticing Isaac standing behind Satou gripping his hand tighter than before. “You do realise that he is one of the criminals that turned on the country!” His voice angrily by the second.

“I do realise that Dainn;” Satou responded, “but he wishes to atone for his mistakes, and I chose to allow him to and added him to my party.”

“But he still is branded as a criminal!”

“Dainn, it’s a foolish move to waste his potential and lock him away for the rest of his life. Besides, he is a very young child, who was guided down the wrong path by the others, he should be allowed to live to help our country prosper.”

“Without a family to take him in that is a fool's errand, and nobody will take a criminal like him.” Dainn responded.

Satou stopped for a second before looking at Isaac, then to Eliza. Hoping she was thinking of what he was.

He took a breath before he said. “And if he had a group willing to be that family, someone you would know would teach him right?”

“Well, he’d be free to live with them and have a happy life.” Dainn responded.

“Then I guess you're looking at his father.” Satou responds, looking towards Isaac who looked to be slightly smiling with tears in his eyes. It was then he looked to Eliza expecting her to be annoyed at his choice, only to find her giving a “I’ll go with whatever you choose” shrug.

“Why am I not surprised you chose to take on the kid as your son, although with his skills and abilities of that weapon, he would be useful to train alongside someone like yourself, I’m sure the two of you will get along just fine.”

“I’m sure we will.” Satou responded before adding. “But I think that we will retire to our room for the night, I assume the others will be waiting for me there.”

“They will be, and I left a few things for you in your room and I’ll make sure to get this slut to bring you some more substantial food for you and your son.” Dainn responded looking at Isaac curiously.

“Thank you Dainn.” Satou responded, bowing his head as Isaac did the same before the group turned and left the throne room, returning to their own room for the night.

As soon as the group approached their room, Satou looked towards Eliza who had been silent the entire time. “Is something wrong Eliza, you’ve been a bit quiet?” He asked.

“Nothing,” Eliza said. “What? You expect me to talk?”

“Less that. More that I expected more disapproval of my choice to adopt Isaac.”

“What, you're the one taking care of him not me. So I didn’t have any problems.”

“But aren’t you technically his Aunt now?” Satou asked as Isaac looked to Eliza.

“Don’t get attached, remember.” Eliza said, reminding him again.

“Oh I remember.” Satou responded with a smirk as they reached the door to their room. Opening it and suddenly getting crushed in a hug from Sapphire and Frostine, who instantly began rubbing themselves up against Satou affectionately.

Eliza could only sigh before pulling Sapphire away from Satou. Sapphire looked back to her and said. “Mistress, am I not allowed to be worried for him? I thought both him and you would end up dying in that thing.”

“You can do your thing after Frostine is done.” Eliza reassured Sapphire.

“So… next week then?” Sapphire remarked with a smirk before spotting Isaac as she said. “And who’s the young man here? I can’t imagine master having a male slave just yet.”

“Satou took him in as his son.” Eliza explained as she kept her grip on Sapphire's upper arm just in case.

“So you're saying that the kid… is also my master now?” Sapphire asked.

“I don’t know.” Eliza pulled Sapphire in a hug. “But your mine; ya hear me, mine.”

“Yes mistress.” Sapphire responded instantly.

“You are one weird group, You know that?” Isaac responded looking at everyone curiously. “So, I suppose you are also my family.”

Eliza sigh as she released Sapphire. “I don’t know.”

“I suppose the only one who stands for that one is me and Eliza, the others are less family and more servants.” Satou responded as he sat up with Frostine resting her head on his shoulders.

“Master, that's unfair.” Sapphire responded. “I’m sure you would class as something better and accurate, we are all slaves after all.”

“Eliza, if you would be so kind as to sort that out… again.” Satou responded as he shook his head.

Eliza pinched Sapphire's ear as she spoke. “Sapphire, you're the only one that’s equivalent to a slave and servant in training, the others are servants.”

“I get it! I get it! I’m sorry!” Sapphire shouted in pain from her pinched ear. Eliza let her ear go and massage it gently.

“That’s my girl.”

“Thank you mistress.” Sapphire responded as she rubbed her ear and sat down looking at Satou and Isaac.

“So master, you said the young man is your son, does our new master have a name?” Frostine asked.

“Isaac.” Eliza said before Satou can open his mouth.

“So Master Isaac...” Sapphire began to say. “am I allowed to have se-”

However before she could finish Satou spoke up and said. “If you finish that sentence you're not getting any relief for a month.”

“But-” Sapphire said.

“No Sapphire, your mine and I mean it.” Eliza said sternly.

“That's not fair.” Sapphire wined in annoyance.

“It’s either that or no sex at all.” Eliza said in a thoughtful tone.

Sapphire didn’t respond as she just crossed her arms and seemingly threw a tantrum before Isaac said. “Are we sure she’s not the child here?”

“Nevermind her,” Eliza said as she pulled Sapphire to the bathroom. “We’ll be in here, gotta calm the kitty.”

“Oh great I assume you mean that again,” Satou responded as he shook his head, “Just don’t make too much of a mess.” Both Eliza and mare entered the bathroom, Eliza closed the door behind them and locked it.

“Are they;” Isaac began to say.

“Don’t… Just don’t. You’ve seen this messed up place and can guess what's going off in there.” Satou responded.

“If you're sure dad,” Isaac said before adding, “that still feels weird to say.”

“And it feels weird to hear.” Satou added.

An hour of awkward silence filled the room as the group said nothing. Satou having removed his armour and laid down on the bed with Isaac having done the same a few minutes after. Isaac fell asleep very quickly, must have been exhausted from the fight.

The bathroom door opened and Eliza stepped out, Sapphire behind her with both girls' appearance being clean; probably from the shower.

“So,” Eliza started. “Who’s sleeping where? Since now Isaac is around.”

“And that's a good question.” Satou responded.

“I think you should get the bed again, Mistress.” Sapphire responded.

The young android woman looks at Satou. “Well, what’s your thought?” Satou looks at Isaac, seeing the young man having pulled himself closer to Satou.

“Well, I don’t think Isaac’s moving anywhere for now, he’ll get a bed… and in your case Eliza, it’s up to you if you do or not.” He said.

Eliza walked at the corner where she was trying to meditate and did exactly she wanted to do: Meditate. “I’ll let you two take the bed.”

“So, looks like it’s everyone crushing me tonight.” Satou responded with a sigh. There was then a chorus of chuckles from Sapphire and Frostine before both suddenly climbed into bed with Sapphire carefully moving close to Issac and Frostine facing Satou, both quickly falling asleep while Sunny fell asleep on Eliza’s legs.

Once Satou was sure the others were asleep; he looked to Eliza and said. “If you learn anything interesting make sure to tell me. Okay?”

“I will. Have a nice dream.” Eliza said.

“I’ll try my best to.” Satou muttered as he slowly fell asleep.

Chapter 8 (Rewritten)

Satou slowly woke up and found that he was not surrounded by anyone he had fallen asleep nor was he in the same room that he was asleep at. Instead find a familiar small room with barely any furnishing apart from a single small one person bed, a set of wardrobes at the front of the room, and a small side table with a lamp and alarm clock.

Turning his head to a nearby window, he slowly climbed out of the bed, standing up and walked towards it. He looked out the window to see the familiar look of the street he used to live in.

“Was that all a dream?” Satou asked nobody. He looked up into the sky to find that the skies were black and full of thunderclouds, yet it wasn’t raining, and there were no signs of any rain outside.

Satou sighed. “Maybe it was a dream, kinda a shame, I actually faintly enjoyed that one.” He then walks to his desk before reaching for his phone only for his hand to phase through it. “Wait… that doesn’t seem right.” He reached for the phone again as he saw his hand simply phased through it like it wasn’t there.

“Okay, that's strange!” Satou muttered to himself before looking at his own clothing to find he was in the armour he had been wearing since arriving in the world, the one he had assumed was a dream. “Or maybe this is the dream?”

“Indeed.” A soft, feminine voice that was echoing around him replied her location obscuring where the voice was coming from. “Hmm… Who and what are thou?” The voice asked curiously.

Satou didn’t respond instantly as he looked around, trying to locate whoever the voice had come from before speaking up. “I could ask you the same thing.”

“Ah~ sorry, thour appearance has caught us by surprise.” A distortion happened at an empty space in front of Satou, a bright blue pony appeared from the distortion that faded away. She had long flowing hair that almost seemed to have the appearance of the night sky as it moved almost like it was being blown by the wind, however; unlike any other pony he had seen; this one had both wings and a horn. Wearing a single silk; pale blue halter strap dress with the skirt parts reaching down to her ankle and the sides having a split from hips down, bottom of the skirt has a few star designs.

‘God she’s attractive!’ Satou thought to himself before shaking his head before saying. “I’m sorry, I didn’t know you were there, miss?”

She didn’t answer as her eyes were staring at him intensity before that feeling subsided. “That’s the reason we hid’, to observe.” She said in a calm tone.

“I’m really nothing impressive to look at.” Satou responded.

“Thou are an unknown species, even though thou have a similar bipedal and body structure.” The mare said in an odd tone. “But thou haven’t answered our question.”

Satou carefully looked at her before he said. “My name's Satou, and I’m what's called a human… although I’m surprised you haven’t seen any others of my race.”

“We haven’t, are there others like you?” She asked.

“I know of three others personally, with the possibility of at least two others existing.” Satou responded.

She floated towards where Satou tried to pick up his phone and was surprised as she lifted it in her hand in curiosity. “This thing is fascinating.” She said in fascination.

“It’s not that impressive.” Satou responded. “Besides, you can’t really learn anything from it and I don’t believe there's a copy of this old thing back in the real world.”

“Thou would be surprised on how much thour mind can describe to dreams in visual.” The mare said now looking back at him in thought.

“Is something on your mind?” Satou asked curiously.

“We were looking for Cadence and Shining Armor, but you were the only one I got in contact.” She said she barely controlled her worry.

“I’m afraid I’ve never heard of either of those names,” Satou responded, “who even are they?”

She didn’t answer for a long time, trying to think about how to explain. “Firstly, where are thou?”

“In the Crystal Empire… if that's what the cities called.” Satou answered.

“Then, why do thou don’t known Princess Cadence and Prince Shining Armor, if thour at the Crystal Empire?” She asked confusedly.

“I’ve just never heard anything of them, I didn’t even know the empire had a queen.” Satou responded.

“Princess,” The mare corrected. “We rather not have such a title and prefer princess or prince, it’s to show that we’re more close to the citizens.”

“Okay… Well I was unaware the empire had a princess leading it.” Satou responded, rolling his eyes.

The mare looked at Satou as if his words woke her to an alarm. “Who is in charge of the empire?”

“In charge of the empire?” Satou responded before pausing as he said. “I don’t mean to sound rude, but if I didn’t even know they had a princess, why would I know who the ruler is?”

“Cause you would have met them while checking on any problems or at least Prince Shining Armor since he does usual guard reports to each guard's respective post.” She sat down on the bed, feeling it’s texture with those gentle hands.

“And I’m pretty sure I’ve not had any run-ins with the guards.” Satou lied. “Besides, why would they even allow a civilian into the barracks?”

Her eyes leer at him that definitely say ‘I’m not a fool’ as she slowly spoke. “If we was my sister then we would have ‘bite thour apple’, but our not. we haven’t felt either of their dreams for a few weeks or anypony that lives in the empire, the only one we can reach is thou and one other.”

“Well considering I don’t even know who I’m talking to, and the fact we’ve never met before today, that really doesn’t inspire confidence.”

She blinked in realization. “Thou’s right. Thou continued without giving our chance to introduce ourselves.” She then pushed herself off the bed and stood in a tall, royal stand, her large wings fan out in grace. “We are Princess Luna, Princess of the Night and Dreams, Co-Ruler of Equestria along with our sister.” She spoke in that strong, leadership tone.

‘And she’s eccentric.’ Satou thought to himself before saying. “Okay, well I hope you don’t mind if I drop the titles for now, and just go with Luna.”

“That is fine, it is only us here after all.” She ‘Luna’ said, her wings fold back in.

“Okay Luna, and I assume you won’t tell me who the other one is?”

“I’m afraid not.” Luna answered.

“I see, well I guess it was a pleasure to meet you.” Satou responded.

Luna’s wings opened, with a flap of her wings she floated in the air as everything went white, before the world around Satou suddenly went red, a black light flickering behind him, being followed by a familiar howl.

Luna appeared back in the dreamscape, row upon row of doors leading to others dreams. The door she was in became transparent, him awake. But brush off as a norm, more on their conversation. ‘There's something going on,’ She thought in her mind and noticed the ‘human’ avoiding her questions. ‘and that creature ‘Satou’ knows something.’

“I’ll report this to my sister.” With that, she flew through many doors to assist anyone who was having nightmares while searching for one particular individual.

Satou was suddenly woken up in a shock by a sudden pain on his face. Felt something dripping down his face, he reached up touching his own face. When he pulled his hand away, he found a crimson liquid covering it. ‘Why does that not look good?’He then slowly looked forward finding Frostine’s claw in front of him, covered in blood. ‘And that explains the blood.’

It took him a few moments before he slowly leaned up as the blood stained his clothing. Climbed out of the bed, leaving a trail of blood drops in his path as he made his way towards the bathroom, closing the door behind him.

After a couple of minutes, Isaac woke up before looking around to find the bed stained in blood where Satou had been asleep. Isaac looked around noticing a trail of blood leading from the bed. He climbed out following the trail.

He stopped when he reached the bathroom, seeing the trail end by the closed door. “I really hope it’s not Satou trying to kill himself for some reason.” He muttered.

After a couple more moments, Isaac opened the door to find Satou standing in front of a mirror, almost completely naked. The entire bathroom around the sink stained red with blood. He looked away. “I-I’m sorry, I wasn’t looking; I swear!”

“Don’t worry, just shut the door before some crazy woman tries to look in here as well.” Satou responded with a sigh of annoyance still looking at the mirror. Isaac closed the door behind him. “Thanks, and sorry you’re stuck seeing me naked, you could have stayed outside instead of being on this side of the door.”

“I could… but I was worried.” Isaac said before looking at the blood stains on the sink. “Th-that’s a lot of blood… A-are you sure a normal person has this much?”

“If I was going to make a comment on that, I would say this world has no logic to it.” Satou responded sadly as he turned to Issac to reveal three large open cuts over his face that had stopped bleeding but were clearly still open.

“How did that happen?”

“I think Frostine cut me in her sleep.” Satou responded with a sigh as he looked to remove a ring before saying; “Aqua Heal” before the wound healed over with two of the three cuts completely disappearing, the last leaving a faint scar over his right eye. He then placed the ring back on before trying the spell again as it reflected off a red barrier hitting Isaac, “So… the ring caused the magic reflection. Good to know.”

“Can you please explain what's going on!” Isaac shouted.

Satou looked back to him, pulling another version of his clothing out of his bag before putting them on, this version being red with black shoulder pads instead of dark blue and white. “My clothes are covered in blood so I’m leaving them to soak in the bath for now, and I’m simply sorting myself out before I start whatever chaos occurs today.”

“And that would be?”

“Hell if I know.” Satou responded with a shrug of his shoulders, before changing the subject. “You got any plans for what to do with your newfound freedom?”

“Honestly. If that first wave was anything to go by. I need to get stronger, find some weaker monsters and level up and improve my bow.” Isaac said.

“Two things. One: You’ll struggle with low-level monsters around here, considering almost every monster I saw was around level 50. And two: I have no idea what you mean by improving your bow?”

“It may be easier to show you the second one… if I had some monster's loot that is.” Isaac responded as he rubbed the back of his head.

“I’m pretty sure I can handle the loot.” Satou responded.‘I have too much of it as it is anyway.’

“Are you sure you are okay with me using your hard earned materials?”

“Trust me, I’m not exaggerating when I say that I have more than enough of the stuff to fill a house.” Satou responded. ‘Thank god for the broken infinite capacity inventory space for that one.’

“So… any idea when you want to try and help me with that?” Isaac asked.

“I suppose I can help now, I’ll just leave a note for the others so they know we’ve gone out.” Satou responded, as they both walked out of the bathroom to find everyone still asleep.

Satou only chuckled at this before stopping at the desk but pausing to see a piece of rolled-up parchment on the table. Rolling it open, Satou found a sketch for some sort of badge. It looked like a small circular badge with a large black flame in the centre. The words; “Caribou Champion” written at the top and “Satou Pendragon, Black Flame of the Caribou” written below the flame on two lines.

“No idea who designed that one… but it’s not that bad.” Satou responded as he rolled the parchment back up, placing it inside his bag but pausing again to find two tome’s that were below the scroll, one of them reading ‘Runes and You’ while the other looked to be a skill tome of some kind.

Satou just shook his head as he thought. ‘Okay, no idea why these are here, or who put them there, but I’ll keep them for now.’ Before placing both books in his bag and quickly writing a note to the others for when they wake up, then both he and Isaac left the room.

The pair walked into the arena, entering the front entrance to find the entire arena empty.

Satou turns to Isaac, saying. “Okay, first; I think you should explain how we upgrade this bow of yours.”

“I think the easiest way to explain it is that I feed anything I can into my bow, that can be bits of monsters to objects and even plants and use them to gain new forms and abilities my bow can use.” Isaac explained.

“So~… do you know what exactly “will” unlock something?” Satou asked.

“Nope, it’s just trial and error.” Isaac responded. “I’m pretty sure a lot of things will do nothing.”

“Of course.” Satou responded with a sigh before saying. “Well, what is there we can try first?”

“What do you have a lot of that you need to get rid of?” Isaac asked.

“I suppose, I have the Frost Lizard-men Corpses.” Satou responded, looking in his inventory pulling out one of the bodies as it fell to the ground. “Maybe you can get something off that?”

“It’s worth a try.” Isaac responded as he began slowly removing parts of the body as it slowly sucked into the bow through the orange gem inside it until the entire body was gone.

Satou didn’t respond for a bit as he thought to himself. ‘I’m honestly surprised he’s not squeamish about tearing a body apart.’

After a couple of moments, he looked back to Isaac to see a gleeful smile on his face as he said happily. “Finally! Something unlocked, it took so long!”

“You make it sound like a surprise. Something gave you an upgrade?”

“It’s kinda hard not to be when nothing ever worked! I thought it was a joke weapon or a fake!”

“Well… What did you get?” Satou asked curiously.

“I don’t know.” Isaac responded before activating the mysterious new weapon power, his bow suddenly changed shape. Bows limbs shortened and gained a bit thicker; the front covered in icy cyan scale moving away from the handle section.

“Okay, that looks different. Any idea what it does?” Satou asked.

“Nope. None at all.” Isaac responded.

“Let me guess, you need to try it out to see.”

“Yep.” Isaac responded. He saw an archery range just ahead of them. “I’m gonna try it out.” before quickly firing an arrow, an icy blue trial following behind it as it struck the target.

“... That's it?”

“For standard mode… looks that way.” Isaac responded.

“Standard mode?”

“I think it has a special skill. But I’m not sure.”

“Is it worth trying? Do you know what it’s called?”

“The Skill move? I think it’s called Ice Shot?” Isaac responded, unsure.

“Then give it a try?”

Isaac contemplated this for a moment before turning back towards the target again, pulling the bowstring back before shouting. “Ice Shot!” The arrow was covered in a white mist before flying towards the target as he fired the arrow. The second it made contact; the legs of the bullseye target board were frozen in a large block of ice, holding it in place.

“So… It freezes the lower half of a target.” Isaac responded in disappointment. “My first skill and it can only freeze a target in place.”

“Not exactly useless, if a target can’t move from a spot, you can chain it with stronger attacks or allow others to hit a fast-moving target.” Satou pointed out.

“Maybe,” Isaac responded, still sounding unconvinced. “Anything else we can try?”

“We can only keep trying things.” Satou responded as they continued feeding other materials into the bow.

Half an hour later; the two of them had tried many other materials, some of them creating results with others doing nothing.

It was then that they heard a voice say. “It seems the two of you are busy.”

Hearing the voice, Satou turns to see Dainn standing behind them. “I’m sorry, we didn’t see you there. Do you need anything?”

Dainn seemed to chuckle at that. “No, I just needed to talk to you about something.”

“And that is?” Satou asked.

“Well, I left you a piece of parchment with a design on it in your room yesterday, I was wondering if you had a chance to look at it?” Dainn asked.

“I did, and I was wondering what that was.” Satou responded. “It looked like a design for some kind of badge.”

“It was. I decided it would be easier and less conspicuous for you to have a badge to show your credentials to those around the empire while allowing you to walk amongst other races as long as they trust you, if things ever go so wrong that my people are branded as criminals, at least you’ll be safe.” Dainn responded shaking his head at the last bit.

“You really don’t expect much from them do you.” Satou responded.

“As you said, when you entered the city for the first time; my guards didn’t even hide their debaucherous ways.” Dainn responded, shaking his head. “Honestly we’ll get found out soon if we don’t get that fixed.”

“Well, create a new collar type then.”

“Wait… What?”

“Create a collar type with terms that prevent the females that wear them from being used by males. Have any mares working for the betterment of the city wear them so they won’t get used in those ways. In a way, you could add females who are capable of fighting to the army with the collars keeping them in line following orders given, and have them be capable and loyal soldiers.”

Dainn paused for a moment before saying. “That's not actually a bad idea, we could have those females walk around freely, acting like everything is fine.”

“And if you made laws to keep the more depraved activities off the streets, you could keep outside forces from seeing anything wrong taking place and reduce the risk of us being found out.”

“That is true… we could extend it to mares who work in stores as well, have more of them working the shops to safely decrease our chances of being found out… But where would we send the men who enjoy those acts?”

“Open a few brothels with mares who want to be used like objects serving the males inside. Make it a service they can provide and it could be a viable business and if needed could allow it to still legally take place without offending people who don’t want to see females being used that way.” Satou suggested.

“I’ll take the idea into account, it sounds promising and could be very useful.” Dainn responded before saying. “Anyway, if you like the design I sent you, I could get it made for you within the week.”

“I think I’d be happy with it.” Satou responded, passing the parchment that had the design on it back to him.

“I see. Well, when you get a chance; I have found an open home for you to own in the empire. A large mansion in fact with plenty of room for any slaves you desire, and I’ll get you plenty of slaves to keep the place suitable for you.”

“Now that I like the idea of. It felt a bit strange sharing a room with all my slaves, it may be better to have a room to myself.” Satou agreed.

“Excellent! I’ll have Sombra take you there later today!” Dainn responded. “I hope to speak with you later my friend!” With that said, Dainn walks away, a bit more cheerful than before.

“Well… that was strange.” Satou responded.

“I can agree with that.” Isaac responded with a nod of his head.

“Anything else you think we can try to help you out without going out hunting monsters?”

“Sadly, I don’t think so, unless you have more materials we can try; I think that's our limit for now.” Isaac responded. “Maybe we should go and check on the others?”

“Maybe for the best… Frostine would have woken up with blood on her claws. She’s probably going mad after realising where the blood came from.” Satou admitted as he rubbed the back of his head before both of them made their way back to their room in the castle.

Few minutes of walking back to their room in the castle. Satou opened the door and went inside to find Frostine running around the room in a panic with the room being torn to pieces as she screamed out Satou’s name. Sunny was staying low while she searched, trying to avoid Frostines panic attack. Sapphire appeared to have; at some point; fallen unconscious on Eliza’s lap, who seemed unaware of what had happened and looked to be asleep.

“Why do I get the feeling that this is my fault?” Satou asked loud enough that everyone could hear. Before he knew it; Frostine and Sunny both leapt at him, grabbing a hold of him. Frostine kept apologising through sobs.

“Calm down Frostine!” Satou responded as he placed a hand on her head. “I’m fine. Nothing happened.”

“But there was so much blood!” Frostine shouted back as she sobbed.

“And I’m still standing, so it couldn’t have been that bad.” Satou responded. ‘That's a complete lie, it hurt like hell as I cleaned myself up.’

Eliza opened her eyes that looked to Satou. “Took your time, Frostine woke the others.” She said calmly.

“To be fair, we did leave a note on the table.” Satou stated. “Besides I didn’t want to wake any of you up.”

“Actually, I was awake this whole time.” Eliza said, correcting him. “As for the note, I read it.”

“And you didn’t think to tell them?” Satou asked.

“To focus on my scan, and it’s really your problem, not mine. They are your servants after all.”

Satou then paused at this before saying. “But isn’t Sapphire yours… and wasn’t she knocked unconscious in the carnage?”

“That’s true, however, if you were here instead of in the arena; then this would have been prevented. Besides, I’m not your babysitter for your servants.” Eliza petting Sapphire mane. “Sapphire’s still your servant, she isn’t fully mine to make me guilty.”

Satou only smiled and shook his head. “Anyway, I spoke with Dainn while I was out. He said he’s sorted a mansion out for us to live in instead of this room. we should be moving in later today.”

“I know, heard it from Sombra’s eyes and ears a few hours ago.” She said it casually.

“Kinda ironic you know about this stuff before me.” Satou admitted.

“Did you know that ever since the arena he became quite chatty?”

“Who, Dainn? I thought he seemed a bit more cheerful after he left, but I wouldn’t expect him to be more chatty?”

“It was interesting.” She then paused as if distracted before slowly spoke again. “He’s back with Sombra, said something about a new collar… suggested by you.”

“And from your tone, you sound disappointed in me for it.” Satou replied with a sigh.

“Yes! It goes against what we’re here to do!” Eliza said.

“Not exactly.” Satou responded, trying to explain his intention. “Sometimes you need to make a minor change to help the few, so you can start to improve more people's situations. Think about it this way, the new collar means many of those who don't want to be used can be placed on the new collar, where they can’t be touched or used, in essence, they gain the freedom we want, and if I can get it going further, they can get the right to own their own stores again. Sometimes a smaller step can lead to a better outcome in the long run.”

“That’s useless if those cock crystals are around! Why didn’t you focus on ‘that’ first?!”

“Eliza, just think a second, that started being used a few days before we arrived, unless something happens to make them become a threat to the order he’s making or a health risk. It would be suspicious and could give away our true intentions.” Satou responded. “Besides, I have something to start helping us on a smaller scale and to help Sunny recover.”

Sighing a long breath; Eliza looked back to him. “Fine, if it’s for her. But,” Her hand reached to her own collar and easily removed it. “I can’t believe that you did something without talking this to me first.”

“It was a spur of the moment idea, Dainn was in a good mood, I wanted to see just how much I could sway him to new ideas. If I can control that, we can input more ideas. But going straight for major changes without implementing small things to build trust with him almost felt too risky.”

“So should I stop trusting you then.” Eliza said sternly.

“Very much not.” Satou responded before looking out the window. “I may not show it very well, but your thoughts, your ideas, help me more than anyone else. I trust you unconditionally and I honestly want to help as many people as I can.”

Eliza looked away with frustration etched on her face. Taking a deep breath she looked back with her usual neutral expression. “Different topic: Is there anything else I need to know?”

Satou closed the window before sitting on the bed. “Last night, I spoke with someone called Princess Luna. She started questioning me about a lot of things, and right now, I know that there should be two rulers of the empire, a princess called Cadence and a prince called Shining Armor.”

“Well, explains two of the tags underground.” She muttered. “Anything else?”

“Not that I can think off.” Satou responded before grabbing the book “Runes and You” from his bag before saying. “Okay, let's try this. Sunny. Come here.” The mare moved up to him with her breathing heavily and her tail raised up as she climbed up beside him.

Satou then removed her collar before saying. “Stay calm, and don’t move.” He then began to hold the collar in his hand before looking over the book. Eliza saw the runes shimmer slightly before they changed slightly before fading away.

It took a few moments before Satou looked back at Sunny and attached the collar back onto her. After he was done; he looked back at her asking. “Sunny, you feeling okay now?” Her response was a “meep” before scooting away, realizing the position she was in and how close she was to Satou.

“W-wha-where am I?! What happened? Where are we? Why do I feel like I'm in a heat cycle? It’s not even my heat cycle yet!” She kept questioning frantically, realizing a lot of things.

“Sunny, take a breath and calm down okay.” Satou requested as she slowly breathed in and out, trying to calm down. “Now; what do you remember?”

She looked to Satou as her mind tried to recall her last memory. “W-we were standing outside the gate to the Crystal Empire. The next thing I remember; I felt all hot and desire for pleasure, and grew more and more until everything went fuzzy and blissful. The last thing was me being here.” Sunny recalled.

“Okay, well it’s been a few days since then. We entered the empire, which was when you lost yourself, we switched your old collar with one linked to me and for some reason, you started acting like a dog the entire time. Then I made an adjustment to it just now and it brought your mind back." Satou explained.

“Oh, oh dear.” She hugged herself, shivered. “Th-this is why I didn’t want to be here.”

“I worked that out rather quickly when we got into the city.” Satou reassures her. “But… we won’t be leaving anytime soon I’m afraid.” That made her head bow with a groan. “Don’t worry, you still won’t get hurt, I remember my promise.”

He looked to the group before saying. “Now, I’d say we’d better gather all our stuff. We will be moving to our new home soon.” Eliza nodded as she called to Sunny to explain a few things to her as Sapphire regained consciousness. Before long; the group gathered everything up and waited to be taken to their new home.

Chapter 9 (Rewritten)

A couple of hours after the group had packed up their things; they headed their way outside and loaded what they needed onto their cart. Satou attached both Sunny and Sapphire up to it.

Sombra walked out of the Castle towards the group. “I see you're waiting for me. I was actually expecting to have to look for you all.”

“I’m not that slow Sombra.” Satou responded with a roll of his eyes.

“That much I know, but I was expecting you to struggle to get your dog to do what you needed.” Sombra responded, gesturing to Sunny who looked away with her hands balled into quivering fists.

“Sombra, I suggest that you apologise to her right now.” Satou responded, glaring at her and adding. “She’s not a dog for one, and two she’s completely normal, and that's how I like her being.”

“Satou;” Eliza spoke from her seat in the carriage with Frostine and Isaac. “stop with that attitude and whatever thoughts you're thinking of.”

“I wasn’t thinking of doing anything.” Satou responded with a sigh. “Sombra, are you ready to lead us to our home?”

“Of course Mr Pendragon.” Sombra responded with a curtsy before climbing onto the cart sitting next to Satou before saying. “I’ll give you the directions and you drive.”

“Of course;” Satou agreed as they began to move. “just say where we need to go.” Sombra just nodded her head before directing Satou towards his new house.

As the group arrived at some large intricately designed gates that encompassed the complex inside, at a first glance inside the group saw a large building ahead of them that looked to be as wide as at least eighty of the houses that had littered the main city. The building looked to be made completely out of crystals with there being four large pillars holding a large overhang up over what Satou assumed to be the front door while leading to this was a long path with a fountain in the shape of a naked mare standing seductively, her hands pressed up her breasts with the water flowing down from them in two arcs.

“Why does every statue I see have to be designed like that?” Satou asked in annoyance.

“I’d assume a stylistic choice of the previous owner.” Sombra responded as they moved around the fountain, parking the cart outside the side of the circle road. The group began to climb out of the cart.

Eliza looked at the entrance. “How are you Umbra?”

Sombra’s arms then dropped before she said. “I’m fine mistress. Do you desire something of me?”

“Just act as though you didn’t change, but you’ll know when I tell you or mental thought. You understand?”

“Of course, Mistress.” Sombra responded nodding her head.

“So is there anything we need to know right now?”

“Not really;” Sombra responded but interrupted herself at remembering something. “Oh wait, your three personal maids are currently working on preparing the home for your arrival. There are also two other new maids currently unowned by a master that are at your call, you are free to claim them if you wish. Also, it appears at least twenty other unclaimed slaves are to be sent here along with 10 other slaves owned by other masters.”

“I will meet the three maids myself.” Eliza stated as she looked at Satou. “I’ll see you later, kay?”

“Sure, just don’t get lost.” Satou said with a smirk.

“I know how to get around Satou.” Eliza takes off.

“I bet you do.” Satou responded with a shake of his head. “Sombra, mind helping us unload everything?” He unattached Sunny and Sapphire from the cart as the group began unloading the cart and moving everything they could inside.

Eliza followed the connection to a closed door. Pushing the door open to find Strawberry, Flutter, and Sugar Rush cleaning a large dining room, with Flutter seeming to be hobbling around the room as she cleaned it. The android woman whistles at how clean the room is that Strawberry turned to to see who came in to only see Eliza. “I’m sorry, we were supposed to be done before master Pendragon arrived, could you please keep him away from here till we’re done.”

“You sure Strawberry, Flutter, Sugar?” Eliza asked with the names she gave them.

All three maids suddenly stopped turning to look at Eliza before they said in unison, “What do you desire from us mistress?” Sighing, Eliza told the maids to do the same thing like what she told Sombra earlier to do, and didn't want anyone to know about their change.

“Now, try that again.”

“We understand Mistress Eliza.” All three of them responded in unison, while Flutter seemed to barely be able to stand.

Eliza gasps and helps support her. “Are you alright, Flutter?”

“I’m… Fine.” Flutter responded through winces of agony as her legs buckled.

“Please, tell me.” Eliza spoke in a concerned voice.

“She’s got hurt.” Strawberry responded nervously.

Eliza looked up to Strawberry while placing Flutter to a seat. “How?”

“Don’t...” Flutter responded shakily before Eliza moved her hand where she's hurt and a luminous gentle warmth washed away the pain.

“Please, Flutter, please.” Eliza pleaded as she continued healing her injuries.

“I can’t, he’ll…” Flutter said through tears before stopping fear clear in her eyes.

“He… I promise, I will protect you three, and if that fails it’ll be up to Satou.” Eliza reassured them.

“But… you can’t do anything when we’re not here.” Sugar Rush responded sadly.

“Actually, you three are staying with us. Satou would understand.” ‘I hope.’ Eliza thought in her mind.

“I’m sorry, but we can’t.” Flutter responded. “I-if we don’t return back, he’ll...” however she couldn’t finish as she started to cry. Eliza cradled her in a hug, it was the only action she can think that fits.

“Now calm down, please.” She asked softly as she moved arm length so she could check if there were any other injuries that she missed before she suddenly realised that there was almost no muscle or fat on her body, allowing Eliza to see her bones under her skin. “Flutter, have you eaten anything?”

She didn’t respond only looking away from Eliza as she continued to tear up. Eliza looked down at her, trying to think on what to do. ‘Theses three are ‘your’ responsibility Ez.’ She skulled herself soon followed by another thought. ‘I can’t let Satou do something, it has to be me. I rather have him stay away from who I think it is.’

Flutter still didn’t respond or look towards Eliza still sobbing but not answering her. “No, you three are staying and that's final…. As soon as I figure out how.”

“But you can’t,” Sugar Rush responded. “Without proof of wrongdoing, you can’t remove ownership from him, we have to go back to him each night.”

“Do you have a better idea then?”

“No, but we can’t go against the law.” Strawberry responded sadly. “And unless you know someone who can go above that we have to go back tonight.”

“That would be King Diann right?”

“Pretty much… or his champion, if he had evidence that a law had been broken.” Sugar Rush responded.

‘Crap… I don’t want to regret bringing Satou into this!’ Eliza mentally said to herself.

“So unless you can get one of them to do something, we don’t have a choice in the matter.” Strawberry admitted.

It was silent except for Flutter who was still crying. Eliza looked at Flutter before placing her hand on the mare before they both glowed together. When the light faded away both maids noticed a difference between the two. Eliza had lost some of her muscle and fat, leaving her quite skinny in comparison to how she had been while Flutter regained her beautiful appearance as her muscles and fat returned to her body her bones no longer visible.

“What did you do?” Flutter asked nervously as she looked at Eliza.

“I transfer some of my muscle and fat to you.” Eliza explained simply.

“Okay… and why waste that on me?”

“Because I care about you, all of you.”

“It’s a shame about that… being he’ll probably work me to death and make it mean nothing.” Flutter muttered to herself.

Eliza thought about it, trying to find a way only to realize one thing. She can’t do anything.

“Looks that's everything.” Satou responded as they guided the cart into a small barn at the back of the house.

“Well, it does seem you had a lot of things to move, hard to believe with how little you should have owned.” Sombra responded.

“Maybe. But with everything we do have, it’s best to move everyone early, besides. It’ll probably take a while to find everything in the house.”

“Wouldn’t doubt that one.” Sombra responded as they unhooked Sapphire and Sunny from the cart and the group making their way towards the manor.

As soon as the group entered they looked around the large open entrance room to find a similar scene to that of the castle. However, where there would have been females on the walls; there were open holes in the wall where they would have been. “Are we sure the previous owner didn’t have a thing for the castle?”

“He may have… he did like entertaining his guests as they arrived. they were allowed to drop their mares off and place them here for storage and free use if they didn’t need them.” Sombra stated.

“So, he was like everyone else after Dainn arrived?”

“Oh no.” Sombra responded. “He went off the deep end well before that! He was using this place for that long before the Caribou came here.”

“So… what, did he pass away or something?” Satou asked.

“No, he was imprisoned for murder & kidnapping charges, by Dainn. We found he was luring males with females he fancied away during these parties, killing the males and chaining up the females and their children before brainwashing them into becoming his slaves, making them forget who they were and then completely changing how they looked as he deemed fit to hide them.” Sombra stated.

“So… where is he now?”

“Chained up… under the house.” Sombra stated calmly with a shrug. “Dainn thought it was fitting for him to waste away where he left hundreds of innocent people to suffer.”

“Or he wanted me to find a use for him.” Satou suggested.

“I cannot deny the possibility that was his plan.” Sombra responded. “Maybe you should see how your little criminal is doing, maybe use him as a training dummy till he finally dies?”

“Or I could just teach him how to behave?”

“I really doubt that. All that stallion wanted was to have his way with whoever he wanted.” Sombra stated.

“Well then, I should show that scum what it’s like being used as someone's plaything.” Satou's voice slightly distorted as he responded with an almost sadistic chuckle.

‘Well, i’ll enjoy him either way.’An unknown voice responded, barely audible to Satou.

“Then let me lead the way.” Sombra responded.

Satou simply nodded his head in agreement before looking at Isaac and the others as he said. “You lot explore our new home, I’ll meet up with you all later.”

The group just nodded to Satou before scattering through the house while Satou followed Sombra to the basement of the house.

As Satou and Sombra reach the door to the basement; they stop at the door. First one to speak was Sombra. “It’s a long way down to him. I suppose it had to be so nopony could hear his antics.”

“Or to ensure that nobody could hear his victims' cries for help.” Satou added as he opened the door and began to walk down the basement stairs, Sombra closing the door behind them.

As Satou walked down the stairs; he calmly looked forward as he thought to himself. ‘I swear I heard someone else before we began walking here… but who?’

After a few seconds, Satou reached the bottom of the stairs to find a pony with a horn that’s chained to the ceiling in the centre of the room by his hand, leaving him hanging his legs lifted off the ground.

The pony had a black coat that made him hard to see in the darkness of the room with a dirty medium silver mane that now draped over his face as his head rested forwards, obscuring his face from view.

“So this is the criminal you have chained under my new home?” Satou asked Sombra.

“It is. You could think of him as a gift from Dainn when trained… You could use him as a butler or something?” Sombra suggested.

“Shut it you useless bitch.” The chained stallion muttered to himself as he slowly swung back and forth. “Just give me whatever you came to give me to prolong my suffering already.”

Sombra walked up to the chained stallion before she said. “I’m not here for that today, I came to introduce you to your new owner.”

“Nobody owns me, I am above every useless speck in this world.”

“You know, I’m surprised you can still be so full of yourself.” Sombra responded before punching the stallion in the chest as he rocked forward from the impact and gasping. “I mean you lose everything you own, your names have been erased from history and you’ve been pronounced dead on all records… you are nopony anymore.”

“Go suck your master's cock like always!” The stallion shouts back with pained gasps. Not caring about the pain, already having experienced this kind of punishment.

Satou decided to walk up to them before saying. “Sombra, go fetch us a jug of water and two glasses.” Sombra looked at Satou for a moment before nodding her head and walking up the stairs, heard the door close.

“So… your who the fake King sent to finish me off, just get it over with.” The stallion grumbles in an irritated tone.

“I’m not who was sent for that.” Satou responded.

“Then you're here to laugh at the disgraced noble, go on; laugh it up!” The stallion shouted back.

“As pitiful as you are, I’m not here for that either.” Satou responded, getting his water pouch out his bag before opening it, bringing it to the stallion's lips. “Drink this.”

“Why? Is it a poison to finish me off?”

“No, it’s just fresh water.” Satou responded.

The stallion looked up, the stallion revealing his red eyes. He covered the opening of the pouch with his mouth before Satou slowly tipped the pouch allowing the stallion to drink before pulling it away from the stallion's mouth.

“Thank you… umm.” The stallion said weakly as he tried to look at Satou through his ungroomed mane.

“Satou. My name is Satou.”

“Satou… I’ll remember this for however long I may live.” The stallion responded, taking a ragged breath.

“Do you have a name?”

“You heard Dainn’s bitch, I don’t exist anymore, my name means nothing.” The stallion said sarcastically. Satou looked at the Stallions' information. He saw the name ‘Night Twister’ written on it with a class below it read ‘Summoner’ along with the words ‘Current Owner: None’.’

Satou sighed. “And you care what those two say?”

“What do you think?”

“Considering what you said about them all, I take it as a no.”

“Exactly.” the stallion responded but decided to just tell him. “Just call me, Night Twister… Unless Dainn or his bitch is around.”

“No prob-” Satou began to say before a voice mentally spoke to him.

‘This Soppy; Kind stuff is boring me, he’s our slave, we can do what we want with him.’

‘Who are you?’Satou mentally asked the voice.

‘I’m you. But stronger.’ It responded.

‘Seriously… You went with that as your introduction?’

‘No, I am literally you.’ The voice responded. ‘Did you really think being a half-blooded human didn’t have any perks?’

“Those are?”

‘Let me show you a really nice one.’ The voice responded.

“What do you-” Satou began to say but was interrupted as his control was suddenly pulled away from him.

“So… a Summoner.” Satou responded in a distorted voice as he walked around Night Twister. “Interesting.”

“What are you doing!” Night Twister responded, trying to follow Satou’s form but being unable to see behind him.

“Just relax, it will all be over soon.” Satou responded, his voice still distorting.

“What are you doing!” Night Twister shouted in fear before screaming as a black flame made contact with his body, spreading from his back.

“Relax and enjoy it.” Satou’s distorted voice responded. “I know your skills, abilities and what you desire. You wanted to summon a demon, to become one and gain control of them. I can give you that, all it will cost you is one thing.”

“And that is!” Night Twister shouted as the flame covered his chest and he wreathed in pain.

“You just need to surrender your free will to me. Do that, swear loyalty to me, and I can make you what you desired, and all it would cost is your eternal loyalty.” Satou responded slowly rubbing a hand over the side of Night Twister's face.

“And I get to become a demon.” Night Twister responded.

“Oh yes, you could become a greater demon, second in power only to myself. All you need to do is become mine for all eternity.”

“That's all?” Night Twister responded. A black spark flickered through his eyes as he said. “Then I am yours to command, my master.” The black flame faded into his chest.

‘What did you do!’ Satou asked.

‘I gave him something he wanted… In turn, we get a loyal servant and a powerful demon to serve us.’ The voice thought. ‘Besides, it is less obvious than those collars, so a male slave won’t look too bad on us.’

‘So… you turned him into a demon?’

‘I suppose so, but don’t worry, he wanted it. Oh did he crave it?’ The voice thought for a moment. ‘You could now release him and he won’t have the desire to take any more people. Besides, he’ll live to serve us from now on.’

‘And you gained?’

‘Me? Oh no, it’s we, we gain something we both desire, I want powerful soldiers to serve and follow my every order. You want to protect every insignificant creature. So lets make a deal.’

‘I’m listening.’ Satou responded.

‘We share this body. You can live a life as you like and protect those you want, take those we need and use our power to become a legend. In turn, when we face someone powerful like that mutt before I can take it for our army and tame it as my own little pet until we need it, you can even use them as summonable monsters if you desire and when we fight something powerful, I can fight it at your discretion.’

‘That's all you want?’

‘For now. If this agreement becomes… beneficial for us I may allow you some more… benefits you can use yourself… let's say I don’t know, a few stronger fire spells for you to use? Are those other locked Demon racial tree skills.’

‘Demon racial tree skills?’

‘Oh yes. A skill based on 7 different demons… I think two are unlocked right now… Asmodus and Satan.’

‘And those are?’ Satou asked in confusion.

‘You’ll find out. Along with the other five, if our deal works out.’ The voice responded.

‘For now… I agree to your terms.’ Satou responded nervously, more wanting to know what the racial skills he had did in case it could cause trouble for those around him, than for the Demon itself.

‘Brilliant, I’m glad you can see the benefit.’

‘But if you harm any innocents I’ll make you regret it.’

‘I wouldn’t dream of it, they are all our subjects after all,’ The voice responded as a creature that looked similar to Satou appeared in front of him but its skin was black and had what looked to be large wings that almost looked like that of a stereotypical dragon on his back. It held it’s hand out. ‘As I said, we are one in the same, but for the sake of simplicity, you can call me Enkvaros.’

Satou paused for a second, the name almost sounding familiar to him for some reason before he said. ‘Enkvaros… I suppose It’s my pleasure to work with you.’ He placed his hand out to him as they shook hands before Satou regained control of his body.

Satou then looked to Night Twister to find that he had fully lifted his head looking forward with purpose before Satou said. “After I week I shall return to release you, then you can live and serve me as agreed.”

“Of course master, I shall await the day I can do so.”

Satou just nodded his head before Sombra walked back down the stairs before saying. “This should suffice for him.”

“Thank you Sombra.” Satou responded before taking the jug and pouring water into two of the glasses before handing one to Sombra as he walked towards Night Twister and said. “Drink this.”

“Of course master.” Night Twister responded as he drank the water without question.

Sombra spitted the water she was drinking and she spoke in surprise. “How?! How did he submit to your will within minutes?!”

“I simply gave him an option and he took it. He’ll be loyal to me, that I can promise you.” Satou responded, though the voice was the one who did the deed. “I think we should get back soon and see how the others are doing.” Sombra didn't respond but nodded her head as the two of them climbed the stairs and left the basement with Night Twister looking towards him with a smile.

Satou and Sombra walked back through the halls; they saw multiple different races walking around the mansion ranging from what looked to be dragonesses to some bipedal dogs, with almost all of them wearing very skimpy maid outfits.

“I don’t want to ask.” Satou responded as he shook his head.

“Dainn wanted this place to feel like a place fit for someone with power, as such he paid no expense in acquiring you the most exotic maids he could from across the empire. Even some brand new, unbroken dragonesses from the Dragonlands that we fitted with collars that will force them to submit to any male within a few hours.” Sombra responded.

“So what? Aren’t they just like the normal collars?”

“No… Dragon’s are annoyingly resilient to most things we can use… someone managed to do… horrific things to get something to design those things off that can get through their scales… I believe it uses pain to make them submit.” Sombra responded.

“So…you torture them till they do what you ask?”

“...Yes.”

“This is why I’m starting to hate Caribou science.” Satou responded as he groaned in annoyance. “And the Caribou in general.”

After a couple of minutes of walking around the mansion they eventually reached the dining room as Satou looked inside to find three familiar maids cleaning up the room with Eliza watching, or maybe in thought.

After a few seconds Satou walked inside before saying. “Are you girls all doing okay?” Eliza is just muttering to herself, not hearing him speak.

Satou could only sigh before walking up to Eliza. “Eliza… are you okay in here?” He asks, tapping her on her shoulder. All he got was silence.

“Eliza!” Satou shouted towards Eliza hoping to get her attention.

“Huh-uh-what…” Eliza said as she looked to the voice and spotted Satou. “Oh, hi. Did you say something?”

“I asked if you were okay.” Satou responded before looking at her again. “And you don’t look okay right now, did something happen?”

“Um, a bit… or not, don’t know.” She stood up before heading for the door. “Sorry, I need to be alone for a bit.”

“Eliza...” Satou responded by placing a hand on her shoulder. “What's wrong, something is bothering you again, and I can’t help if you don’t tell me.”

“I just need some alone time okay, now please.” She pulled her shoulder away as she stepped out the door.

Satou stood there for a moment before turning to Flutter, seeing how drastic the mare changes were from the day. “Girls… did something happen?”

Strawberry stopped her sweeping to answer. “It’s like this.”

Strawberry explained about the conversation, how Flutter looks healthy just minutes ago and believed that Miss Eliza wanted to help them but kept a few things out for Flutters privacy.

After listening, Satou shook his head before saying. “She should have come to me before sorting things. If I had seen some proof I could have done something about it, while not breaking any laws… maybe even freed you if it was bad enough.”

“Sorry to say but she seems, well, not sure.” Strawberry threw her thoughts in.

“Not sure about what?” Satou asked curiously.

She shrugged. “Don’t know, I can only tell what they're really giving off, not ‘know’ for why. I can’t read minds.”

“It’s a shame, I really do want to help. If only I had some kind of evidence of negligence towards the three of you, I know yesterday you told me he hadn’t fed you in a week, but I need physical evidence of it.” Satou admitted with a sigh of annoyance.

“You mean, like these...” Strawberry moved some of her fur to reveal bruises or whip marks that settled, Sugar Rush did the same.

“And I can add abuse to it as well…” Satou stated before pausing. “Girls, would you give me written testimonies of your owner's actions towards the three of you?”

“That won’t work.” Sugar Rush said sadly. “Anything from females claims of abuse would be shrugged off.”

“Unless the person bringing the evidence forward has a loophole.” Satou started with a smile. “Just trust me on this one okay.”

“You getting two males testimonies too?” Strawberry asked. Satou didn’t respond and only smiled, tapping the side of his head. Strawberry just shrugged. “Fine, but i’m still iffy about it.”

“Don’t be; this will work.” Satou responded. “Just make sure to get those testimonies to me as soon as you can so I can check them.”

A few hours later all three mares handed Satou their testimonies, but Flutter was shaking in nervousness as she gave him hers.

Satou looked at her with a smile. “Flutter, don’t be nervous.” Looked to the rest of the group before he added. “You have my word that you’ll all be safe. Okay?”

“You better, it’s our hide your risking here not yours.” Strawberry remind him seriously.

“I know,” Satou responded before he started to read the testimonies he’d been given and after a couple of minutes smiled as he said. “Girls. You're staying here for the foreseeable future, I’m declaring you're old owner, unfit to own slaves, pending investigation.” Looking between each other, the mares still seem unsure.

“Girls… You have my word as champion, if he comes near you, he will be severely punished, he will never lay a hand on any of you ever again.” Satou stated before adding. “As for what you do with your freedom from him, that's up to you.”

“I wish I could believe you, but you're not a judge or the ruler of this land. I don’t think your words are enough to convince us.” Strawberry huffed.

“Now come on, why are you so sceptical of him? He’s willing to help us.” Sugar Rush spoke, feeling a bit irked by the mare attitude.

“Sugar, thank you for believing in me. It means a lot, it really does.” Satou responded with a kind smile.

“Thanks but let me make this clear...” Sugar Rush gave Satou a serious look. “I’m giving you a chance and “only” one chance.”

“And I won’t make you regret it.” Satou responded.

‘And I won’t let you screw it up either.’ Enkvaros added.

None of them responded to him as they all returned to cleaning. Satou stood up and began to walk around the house, looking for Eliza. After a couple of minutes later, he arrived at the loft to find an open window. Satou went to look through it, when he looked out to find Eliza meditating on the roof.

Satou walked over to her and spoke up. “Eliza, are you able to talk with me for a bit?”

“No.” She answered, not moving to look at him.

“Eliza… I need to talk to you. I need your help right now… Sugar, Flutter & Strawberry definitely need you. And without your help, I can’t get them away from their old owner.” Satou said.

“What you expect from me…?”

“I found a loophole in the law system that only works in the case of a champion family, anyone related to them, male or female, gains influence in cases that can be taken to court. If you write a testimony of what you saw had happened to the girls, I can use that as evidence to end their owners' contracts on them, on the grounds of assault and gross negligence to his slaves.” Satou answered, before admitting. “But without your help, I can’t help them… and I’m guessing you want a way to save them, and that was the thing you were thinking about before.”

“.... Yes, yes I was. But who would care about your testaments other than Diann? As far as I saw, no one. But i’ll give you what you want, again.” She sighed but didn’t move from her meditation. “Do you have anything to write, not interested in going back inside at the moment?”

“Yeah...” Satou responded, passing her a sheet of paper and a pen. “Here.” She wrote down everything before passing it back to him.

“Here.” Eliza returns to her meditation. “Don’t make me regret it again.”

“I have no intention of letting any of you down.” Satou responded.

She shook her head as she continued her meditation. “Is that all or are you done?”

“I suppose I’m done.” Satou responded before walking away before saying. “Eliza… If you do a search today of this area, you’ll end up finding someone under the house, according to Somrba, he’s a convicted murderer and a kidnapper, who Dainn locked under the house to starve.” She didn’t answer. “Just wanted to make you aware.”

“Fine.” Eliza simply said. Satou could only sigh at this before climbing back into the house, walking to find a room for the night.

Chapter 11 (rewritten)

The next morning, Satou slowly rose from his slumber looking around him to find that nobody else had entered his room. Slowly climbing out of his bed, then stretching his arms upwards, his joints popping into place as he did.

He slowly walked over to his clothes drawer, grabbing some clothes out before putting them on. After getting all his clothes on, he walked out of his room towards the kitchen.

Satou stepped out of his room and looked around him. He found Sonya coming out as well, wearing a set of pyjamas.

"Oh, hi Satou. Forgot where I was for a minute… First time I've been to another world." Sonya greeted.

“I assume you exclude the world you were in before becoming a cat from that one.” Satou responded before adding. “I was heading down for breakfast. I assume you're going to get changed first. Also while in the mansion, unless we have guests; you can wear your clothes like normal if you want, just have the collar on just in case we get a guest.”

Sonya nodded obediently. "Sure thing." She picked up the Manipulator from her tails, and using an equip menu, switched out the pyjamas for her Protector's Uniform. Now with a belt, she hung the manipulator on it and followed him down to breakfast.

When they arrived, they saw Eliza and Marble cooking wearing aprons. Marble seems to be talking to Eliza who was mixing something in a bowl along with the mare.

“Good morning you two.” Satou said as he walked towards them. Both girls turn to them with their hands occupied with bowls of dough and large spoons stirring.

“Morning.” They both said though Marble has stuttered her word in nervousness. They both resume cooking.

Sonya smiled. "What is that I smell?" Sonya asked. She thought it was familiar, but had to ask just to make sure.

“Bread and Pancake.” Marble answered as she moved her bowl to gently pour down on a pan, Eliza put the bowl down on the counter as she went to wash her hands. Satou and Sonya noticed that she wasn’t wearing her mech gear except her black body suit.

“It’s rare that you're not armed to the teeth Eliza. What's the occasion?” Satou asked.

Eliza paused for a second then resumed her hand wash. “Update.”

“Okay... care to elaborate on that one?” Satou asked as he looked to Eliza in confusion.

Eliza tapped at her chin in thought. “Well, you know how computers or games get new things after updating?”

"Yes, but the update has to come from someone. They don't just happen. If I wanted to get an update for my matter manipulator, I'd have to develop it myself." Sonya interrupted. Then a lightbulb goes off in her head. "Which begs the question… where'd yours come from?"

“I would assume the person who made her.” Satou stated. “By the way, did this update have a name? From this, I’d say the Housewife Update 1.0.”

Eliza turned around and gave Satou a raised eyebrow. “Yes, it’s my creator. And no, the name is called Body Evolve Update 1.0. It adds new things that I couldn’t do before such as emotion processors, my skills on specific things, and my combat function such as my level limiter. I also get new abilities and moves that I couldn’t do before, for example, my VR Avatar which is who you were talking to during your training yesterday.” She explained.

“Okay, so you can now make clones of yourself, and you can act more human, along with acting like a housewife.” Satou responded.

“Not a housewife. I’m not even a wife.” Eliza huffed as she went to sit down at an empty seat. Sonya couldn't help but giggle.

"Well, I see annoyance is definitely one you aren't lacking in." Sonya noted, amused.

“Indeed.” Eliza agreed. “So, how's your first day staying here?” She asked Sonya. Wanting to get out of the subject before Satou says something that he’ll regret.

"Interesting, so far. I was pleasantly surprised by a number of things." Sonya answered. "Although… I really hate to ask, but there are a few things back in my world I may need a little help dealing with. I've got some artefacts to hunt down that are actually fragments of a god of creation, and I might call you two up when it comes time to actually retrieve one. If you're okay with that."

“I don’t know. And I can’t speak for Satou.” Eliza sweeps her hand in front of her and a menu screen appears but for some reason, Sonya can’t see it. Probably because it only displayed in front and not in the back.

“If we had a way to do that, and if we didn’t have anything on, I don’t see why not.” Satou responded with a shrug of his shoulders.

"That Matter Manipulator should allow you to teleport onto my ship at any time. It's as easy as pushing a button." Sonya said, pointing at the same one on hers. "Anyway, I'm thinking of heading out and looking for some resources. There might be some on this Equestria that I never found on the ruined chunks of mine."

“What do you expect to find?” Eliza asked while doing something on her menu.

"Hopefully, something that'll help out my friend, Crossed Wires. She's a magitech engineer." Sonya said.

“I see...” Eliza muttered, thoughts wandered.

“Well, if you ever need us, you can drop a message when that time comes.” Satou explained and then brought up a different topic: Today’s plan. “So... I need to see Dainn about a few things today, right?”

“Yes, after you're done eating; you should head out.” Eliza said while not looking up.

“Yeah, I know.” Satou responded calmly. “I’ll catch up with him later after I’ve had something to eat.”

Sonya sighed as she remembered what Eliza said about what she's cooking.

"Sadly, I'm a carnivore. To a degree. I'll stick with the meals I've stored in my Manipulator." She said, grabbing her tool and using it to place honeyed ham on the table. It came with a plate, at least. She started to cut a few slices off first, and as soon as she had a good breakfast cut out, she put the rest of it back in.

Marble brought the breakfast to the table and placed them in the centre. Each one has three stacks of pancakes and one bread. Bowed her head a sec before standing aside and waiting nervously.

Satou shook his head before saying. “You know, you should have set a bit aside for yourself as well.”

Marble, realizing she was being talked to; just waves her hands quickly. “N-no no, I don’t need to eat at the moment. J-just glad that others are eating my food.” She poked her fingers together shyly.

Sonya giggled. "You are adorable." She said between bites.

“Marble… what have you eaten recently?” Satou asked.

“Whatever I get my hands on…” Marble answered.

Satou could only sigh. “Eliza, could you grab us a second plate.” Before he halved the food that was on his plate.

Marble was going to say something but Eliza raised her hand to stop her. “She’s not like what you expect Satou.”

“I wish I could say that… but I don’t know anything about her, and I want to be sure everyone who helps here is cared for.”

Eliza sigh. “She snuck along with the other maids. Turns out; she was trying to survive ever since her store was taken over by a caribou. So her plan was to disguise herself as a maid and hid among the others who came here.” Marble nods her head with her cheeks flush. “Would have worked “if” the ones bringing the maids and butlers here didn’t find her, which they did. They tried to take her back since she's not on the list and tried their luck on her, but I intervened and claimed her as my own. They tried doing the same to me but I put them in their place and they went running.”

“After that, she asked me to be her assistant and, well; here I am.” Marble finished Eliza’s story.

“Eliza… You could have just told me from the start.” Satou responded. ''What did you think I would do?”

Eliza shrug. “What would you do? I wasn’t thinking, just act by kicking those guys cahoot's.”

“Mostly the same… I was more referring to the fact that you seem to have been thinking that I would have kicked her to the curb, you know I’m not like that.”

“I didn’t. I wasn't even thinking of you at all Satou. Not everything is about you.” Eliza huffed, getting annoyed by his paranoia.

“I know that. I’m not that vain.” Satou responded with a smirk as he began eating the food they had prepared.

Sonya soon finished up, putting her dish away in her manipulator. "I'm gonna head out and explore some caves. Satou, if you don't mind, could you get me a copy of the list of laws in effect here? I need to know what I need to abide by since I'll be on my own occasionally."

“I’ll try my best to get you something.” Satou responded.

"Thanks." Sonya said, before walking to the front door.

Satou then looked to Eliza before whispering. “Maybe someone should keep an eye on her… just to be safe.” Eliza nodded, a second later; another Eliza appeared out of static who followed Sonya from behind.

“That's gonna take some time to get used to.” Satou responded with a shake of his head before he ignored what he had seen. Instead; he continued to eat with the real Eliza; who continued to eat hers.

After a few minutes, Satou finished and stood up as he said. “Marble.”

Mare stood straight up by her mentioned name. “Uh um, yes, i-is there something you need?”

“The food was perfect. Thank you.”

Marble Stone smiled. “The pleasure is mine.” She bowed slightly then straightened up.

“And, you can stop bowing… I’m not like the others, you don’t need to act like a slave around me… I’d prefer it if you didn’t, to be honest.”

“But, that’s what I usually do, doesn’t your kind do that?” Marble is confused.

Eliza gave an “oh” in realization. “She's doing it as an actual maid Satou. She's not affected by the collar and crystal cock.” That got an “oh~” from Marble, understanding why he said that.

“Wait… You’ve also got immunity to those crystals?” Satou asked as the mare nodded at this. “That amazing, I wasn’t aware that anyone else had immunity to it. You really are one special woman.”

Marble blush at the compliment. “Thank you.”

“It’s not a problem.” Satou responded as he stood up before saying. “Eliza. We need to take as good care of her as we can.”

““I” Satou, not “we”. She's my responsibility, not yours.” Eliza said then added. “But... I won’t mind every now and then.”

“Okay then, I suppose I better meet with the king, I’ll see you both later.” Satou responded.

“Bye.” Eliza and Marble said in unison, Eliza grabbed her empty plate then headed to wash it as Marble followed her as Satou headed for the palace.

Sonya approached the gate she had come in through yesterday. She had long since noticed Eliza following her but made no changes to her plan.

She stopped at the gate, greeting the guards. They notice her.

“Hey… aren’t you that new Abyssinian slave Mr Pendragon brought in with him yesterday?” One of the Caribou asked. She nodded.

"Yes, but I'm actually a Kineptic. Not a race native to Equis." She responded.

“So he got himself a real exotic slave this time, he’s lucky I’ll tell ya that.” A second Caribou responded, not knowing what a “Kineptic” is.

“Anyway,” The first Caribou began to say. “why are you going out without your master?”

"I'm just out looking for materials. I want to build my master something as thanks for his hospitality." She answered. Although it was a half-truth, at least it wouldn't pop out on a lie detector.

“Really now, and does he know that you're out alone?”

"He does. And he's got someone tailing me to keep me out of trouble." She answered. She didn't want them getting any funny ideas, but she wouldn't exactly say no to certain "tolls" to pay for being out alone.

“Really, if he has someone tailing you I suppose we can look the other way… for a price.” The first Caribou responded with a smile.

Sonya rolled her eyes with a grin. "How did I know you were going to say that? Alright then. Name your price. I have a feeling I'm going to like it."

“Simple. I want you to get us in favour of your master.” The caribou said. Sonya frowned… but took it in stride.

"Ah. I was expecting something else, but I won't say no to that. How do you expect me to do this though? I don't know much about him or you." She asked.

“I’m sure you’ll think something up.” The Caribou responded. “After all, get in the good graces of those above you and from that, you can get great things in this world.”

Sonya nodded. "Then let me offer you some advice. A good way to get on his good side is to treat women with some level of respect. If I'm right, he may be from the same society I'm from, in which women have the same rights as men. It'll be a step in the right direction. Beyond that, I'd say you've already done well by asking for that instead of sex like I expected."

“Well some of us already learned not to risk angering that champion, he’s no pushover like those before him.” The Caribou responded. “Besides, he’s like a demon when threatened.”

"Understandable. Most people like him can get that way. May I pass now?" Sonya asked.

“Sure go ahead, just don’t cause any trouble.” The Caribou responded before allowing Sonya to pass. Sonya smiled as she passed, getting her Manipulator out and set to Scan Mode.

“So,” Eliza started, as she walked beside Sonya. She wants to know more about this feline. “how's the adjustment to your new appearance?”

Sonya paused. Looking at Eliza, she had to ask. "What do you mean?" She wasn't sure what Eliza was referring to.

“You were human, right?”

"Yes. About 9 months ago. It's been a while, so I'm already used to the psychic powers, tails, and magitech." Sonya wiggled the fingers in her gloves at that last one. "And the part where I don't actually have fingers anymore."

“Were you a different gender before?”

"Yeah. But I'm not bothered by it. I hated being a guy anyway." Sonya responded.

“Why?” Eliza asked.

"Hormones, and a complete lack of self-worth because I hated what I was." Sonya answered bluntly after silently considering her answer.

“Self-worth?” Eliza gave her a confused look.

"I never amounted to much in my old life. All I ever thought I was good for was as a servant to my parents. It took being an important factor in my Equestria's survival to get over that." Sonya said.

“So, what’s the benefit for you now that you're a female?”

"Well, my hormones don't hold my sex drive hostage as much, and I generally feel a hell of a lot calmer and more focused than I used to be." She said. "Plus, I don't constantly feel some annoying things dangling between my legs."

Eliza didn’t comment on that.

"Anything else you wanna ask?" Sonya asked. She made a turn into a cave that looked like it ran rather deep.

“Nothing I can think of... You?” Eliza asked as she summoned her gears back on.

"...Have you ever wanted to go to space?" She asked.

“Hmm… I never had before.” Eliza's voice became unsure. “I wasn’t created; right…”

"Eh. The glitch never really wanted to go to space either. They just did." Sonya said with a shrug. "And considering their medieval lifestyle, I doubt they even consider going to space after they settle."

“Are you calling me a glitch?” Eliza asked accusingly.

She chuckled. "No. The Glitch are a bunch of self-aware robots that originally were created to simulate evolution. A glitch in their software got them stuck in the medieval phase, and ever since, they've just been living life like they're human. Though they are sentient."

Eliza wanted to understand what she meant or if they were even talking about the same thing but left it at that. She sighed. “I told Satou that I was a mistake, I was accidentally created by my creator. Even ‘he’ doesn’t know I exist.” She looked up as though she’s trying to look up at the sky. “Going to space… I don’t know. I wasn’t given some personality structure for me to go by. So I never thought about it…”

"I see. Sorry to bring it up then." Sonya stopped as she discovered a crystal outcropping. Turning her manipulator to it, she scanned it. The electronic voice of Sonya's tool chirped.

"Enriched Empathic Crystal. This rare crystal is of the same crystal family as that which makes up the Crystal Empire. Its unique makeup allows those who know what they're doing to create self-aware golems or androids, or to create emotion-based artefacts."

Without a word about it, Sonya used her tool. The tip of it glowed, digitizing the crystal, chunk by chunk. Once it was gone, Sonya changed it back to Scan Mode. She didn't have much else to say, so continued her excavation in silence.

(Right after Satou finishes eating.)

Satou stepped outside and headed towards the palace, walking past the gate of the mansion and into the town proper. Sounds of Caribou’s talking or groaning as they did. There really isn’t anything new except a few stallions scratching their heads as they looked at a nearby newspaper stand.

Satou decides to walk over to it. A stallion standing nearby handed Satou a newspaper, pointing to the article on the front page which said: ‘New blue-collar coming into effect soon. What you need to know!’

Satou smiled to himself before looking at another article below that read: ‘A new collar will be coming into effect during the following weeks. This collar will be blue in colour and classes the mare wearing it as a working servant, these mares are not to be touched or used in public, and are treated with similar rights to their masters while out. For a mare to qualify for this collar they need to either own a business, hold an important job for their master or serve in military purposes.’

Nodding to the stallion as Satou passed the newspaper back to him before making his way towards the palace.

Just as he reached the front entrance to the palace is when he stopped. His eyes looking forward, calmly taking a breath before walking inside the palace. Once he got inside he looked around to find and hear the same sounds from his previous visit. He shook his head as he thought. ‘It’s a step in the right direction at least.’

Satou slowly walked through the palace towards the throne room. When he got there, he found a long queue heading towards the throne room.

‘I could be an asshole and walk past everyone,’ Satou thought before walking to the back of the line. ‘or I could be polite like everyone else and wait my turn.’

This got a lot of ponies in line in turn and saw Satou standing behind them. He got a look of confusion from the crowd as he waited. Nobody around him said a word and went back to doing their own thing, waiting for the queue to go next.

After an hour, Satou was standing at the front of the line just being second before the stallion. A stallion standing in front of him decided to speak up. “You do know that you could have just walked past us all and jumped the queue right?”

“And missing the conversations, why would I do that?” Satou asked sarcastically.

“Okay… maybe we all reacted a little badly to you waiting in line.” The stallion responded.

“A little?”

“Okay, very badly.” The stallion rubbed the back of his head.

“You could have reacted worse. If you had stepped back, I can bet; the second I took one step, everyone would have moved as well.” Satou stated.

“Maybe they would have.” The stallion responded before turning around to face Satou. Satou realized that the pony was not a crystal pony like all the others he had seen. His coat didn’t shine at all.

The stallion seemed to just be a normal pegasus who had a dark blue coat with a jet black mane and tail along with bright green eyes . The stallion says. “My name's Dark Haze. I’ve heard a lot about you.”

“I assume most bad.” Satou responded.

“Who knows. Some may be bad, others may be good.”

“Do you always speak so cryptically?”

“Only when I need to.” Dark Haze responded calmly as he suddenly walked out of the line. “I have all I need. We’ll meet each other again soon.” With that he walks off.

“What was that about?” Satou asked himself when the door to the throne room opened and a stallion walked out, dragging a sobbing mare by a leash. “I’ll need to keep an eye on him.” After a couple of seconds, Satou calmly walked into the throne room.

As the door closed behind him, his eyes looked to the front of the room. Diann sitting on his throne looking bored with Sombra sitting by his feet wrapped around them, her eyes looking towards Satou.

After a couple of seconds Dainn looked up with a groan before muttering. “Please; no more “Am I still allowed to rape a mare in private” talks… The answer is yes, now please leave.”

“Charming Dainn.” Satou responded with an annoyed sign and a shake of his head.

Dainn paused, looking up to see Satou in front of him. A look of relief clear on his face before saying. “Thank Faust, it’s you!” Looking to the guards that scattered around the room. “You can all leave us for now. You may need to turn a few of those outside away. We may be a while.”

“Of course our king!” All the guards shouted in unison before walking out of the room.

After a couple of seconds, Dainn stood up before speaking to Sombra. “Sombra. You can get off me now, and… stop the act you live under.”

Sombra looked up to Dainn in shock as she ask; “Are you sure?” before slowly standing up.

“We know how he is. And maybe I should get used to acting like a good king in case those princesses overcome around.” Dainn responded. “That is why you were worried about the city and sorting that new collar right?”

“Above other reasons.” Satou responded, even though it wasn’t the reason he had currently been thinking about.

“I’m sure of that.” Dainn responded with a chuckle as he walked towards Satou. “Now, I think if we’re going to use the new collar, we need to find a slave for us to try it with. I was going to say we use one of yours… but being you didn’t bring one with you, I think we can use something different.”

“That is?”

“We go to the cells and pick someone out, and then you can keep them after.” Dainn responded as Sombra walked up to him with a leash in her mouth. “Sombra, you could have walked up to me and handed it over on this occasion.”

“Sorry master, force of habit.” Sombra responded as she connected the leash to herself before dropping onto all fours before sitting down like a dog as she stared up at both Dainn and Satou with the leash in her mouth again.

“You're not quite grasping this, are you Sombra?” Dainn asked, looking at her. “You could stand normally on two legs and hold the collar in your own hands until we leave the room.”

“But this feels right, master.” Sombra responded looking down sadly.

“We’ll work on it.” Dainn said, patting her on the head, getting a smile from the mare.

“A bit off topic Dainn… but you seem to act differently to the other Caribou I’ve seen. You seem to almost dislike how things are?” Satou asked.

“That's because I do dislike it...” Dainn responded with a sigh. “Before I became king, I travelled around the world and saw how other races were. I know that not all females are completely inept and that some are capable.”

“And you haven’t tried to make the changes before now, why?”

“Well… my father firmly believed that females of all races were like our own and made the laws… I can’t change those laws no matter how much I desire it, I can only work with the loopholes. You found one we can exploit so far.” Dainn responded.

Satou didn’t continue on the train of thought and decided to change the subject. “Okay back to why I am here. I take it you have a collar ready and someone in mind to use it on?” Satou asked.

“Of that I do. I’ve picked out a few of the captives that we have kept in the dungeons that should suit your needs.” Dainn responded as he held Sombra’s leash in his hands before the two of them made their way towards said captives.

As the group arrived in the palace's prison he looked at everyone in the cells as he found everything from ponies to dragons, but almost all of them look overly willing, many pushing their private parts up against the bars or kneeling at the level of Satou & Dainn’s crotches with their mouths wide close to the bars.

The group decided to ignore all of them as they pressed on through the maze of cells, some being tiny and cramped stacked on top of each other with others being large holding three of four slaves inside of it.

This continued for a couple of minutes before the group stopped as Dainn turned to a small rectangular room that had a glass window down the centre of it cutting the room into two halves.

After a couple of moments Satou turned to look across to the other side of the glass before he saw what looked to be a white screen with black markers indicating heights along the edge of it, a few seconds later 10 figures were marched into the room with chains around their necks attached to their collars and lined up in front of the screen.

Out of the 10 figures that had been lined up, three of them were ponies, two were dragons, one was a Zebra and a single Abyssinian and the other was a Caribou, however, the last one got Satou curious as he saw what looked to be a human-shaped figure.

The figure looked to be a young girl who couldn’t be much older than five years old and had seemingly been stripped of her clothing. She had long blond hair and what looked to be a pair of white wings on her back, her eyes were tightly shut with her arms covering her body the best that she could as she blushed.

Satou looks towards Dainn and he asks. “The little girl who looks to have wings. Who is she?”

“We know very little about her. She was a member of the resistance but during a battle, she was captured while they were retreating. We had her bound and kept in the cells hoping she’d sing and tell us everything. She barely knew anything of use so we kept her out of the public eye in case any resistance members came back for her.” Dainn explained.

“I take it, none did.” Satou responded.

“They didn’t appear to. The resistance doesn’t seem to care for each other's safety.” Dainn responded.

“Anything else about her I should know?”

“Well, there's one thing. She can turn into a bird.”

“A bird?”

“Yes. One that can pull as much as four earth pony mares by herself.” Dainn stated.

“And that means?”

“She’s very strong.” Dainn clarified.

Satou paused for a moment before looking at the girl. “Dainn, prepare the girl. I’m picking her.”

“You sure, I’m sure any of the reds would be better?”

“Dainn… You need to learn to see the value in a person beyond the collar. If you want to become a great ruler, you need to understand the worth of those that stand beside you.” Satou responded.

Dainn didn’t respond for a second before he chuckled. “And you see worth in the bird. Okay then, I’ll get her brought out. She has a weird rune on her chest as well, we’ve worked out it’s a more primitive version of the runes we use on the collars.”

“So I assume you can dispel it.” Satou responded.

“We could, but whoever had it before would know something happened. We’d rather the resistance member who owned her didn’t learn that she’s no longer his.” Dainn explained. “We’ve almost finished a few counterspells for it that will ensure she can be reclaimed without her former owner knowing.”

“Could I see those spells when you have them?” Satou asked curiously.

“We already have both, we just need to make them work together,” Dainn said before passing Satou two parchments. “If you want to try something, I'll get her prepared for you and bring her here, with the new blue-collar.”

“That would be a great help Dainn,” Satou responded, “and if we are lucky; I might finish off the application of this spell for you while you're gone.”

“If you manage that, I’ll make sure to repay you more than the bird.” Dainn responded with a smile before adding. “Sombra, stay here. He’ll need a test subject for the spell if he gets it working.”

Sombra just gulped nervously before nodding her head. “Yes master.” She calmly said. With that; Dainn left the room while everyone on the other side of the glass began to be filtered out of the room.

As soon as the door closed Satou opened both parchments onto a nearby table scanning the information on them as another screen appeared in front of him, both spells appearing next to each other each looking like cogs in a machine. “I swear if this is like a minigame or QTE I’m not gonna be happy.”

After a couple of seconds, the cogs on the screen began to turn seemingly to glow when they lined up, as Satou thought to himself. “It is like a minigame… This may take a few minutes, I really wish I’d started with two basic spells.”

After a few minutes, half the cogs were glowing together but others were still dark before Satou looked to his side as a message saying (Skill - Spellcraft Used) appeared in front of him. “I wonder if I upgrade the skill, would it make this easier?” He paused, looking at the amount of available Skill points he had and stopped as he saw the amount he had remaining in total was only nine. Then stopped looking at the minigame in front of him before he put the skill up to five, before only a second later everything in front of him almost looked to simplify slightly.

He continued looking at the spells for a minute before he realised that the spells on the parchments were incompatible and would never work for a complete spell as they were.

Satou paused to consider his options. That’s when Enkvaros spoke up.‘Could the demonising spell I use work? I mean we remove the demon part and keep undying loyalty to the user, but we make the spell miss a lot of information so the scroll will be incomplete with only us knowing the full spell.’

“You think it could work?” Satou asked as they put the spell up in front of them separating it into two spells, one part forcing unwavering loyalty and the other embedding a demon inside whoever the spell was cast on.

Once this was done they placed the “Loyalty” section of the spell next to the information from the second parchment as both spells slowly lined up, the spell seems to be near perfect, with only a single minor flaw in it. That flaw being the target would imprint on the caster and after an hour be eternally loyal to them.

After a couple of seconds, Satou stopped creating the spell as a third parchment formed in his hand which he read over to find the information being written in a text that was unlike anything he’d seen before.

‘It’s written in my language, nobody will ever decode that, being there's no matching version to use to decipher it to their language, it won’t be usable by anyone else.’ Enkvaros responded calmly.

“And what does it say?” Satou asked, realising he couldn’t read the writing on the scroll himself.

‘Spell name (Realignment Contract). This spell forces unwavering eternal loyalty on the target towards the user, after an hour this spell is irreversible and the target's previous owner will see no difference in the target. This spell has an extremely high mana cost, and will drain a user's full mana bar completely, along with preventing mana regeneration from all sources for a week and a temporary cost of half the user's health and stamina, for 24 hours.’ Enkvaros explained.

“So I use this, then I’m viciously crippled for the next 24 hours with no skills or magic for a week. That's pretty risky. If something happened, we couldn’t really fight back effectively.”

A second later he looked towards Sombra who was shaking before holding his hand towards her. “Are you ready for the first test?”

“Wait… you're already done?”

“I think so, now to see if it works.” Satou responded before Sombra nodded her head as she faced Satou standing calmly as she waited for Satou to try the spell, however before he cast it he stopped and said, “With the cost of this one, I can’t try it more than once… and I’ll need to use it on the girl. I suppose fine-tuning it may be better than a risky test.”

“That may be a good idea,” Sombra responded, taking a breath as she did, as Satou continued adjusting the spell.

(Meanwhile...)

Sonya grunted as she wormed her way through a tight crawl space. She was getting pretty frustrated with these tiny tunnels, and she was beginning to lament how thick her hips were. "Damnit, I thought cats were supposed to be liquid." She cried out, in reference to a number of internet memes. Eventually, after the tenth tight space so far, Sonya began to reach for her Manipulator… but she couldn't. "Ugh. Damnit, and I can't reach the one thing that'd make this whole thing easier. Guess it's what I get for trying not to rely on it too much."

“We should have taken the other path.” Eliza said in annoyance with a huff before trying to push Sonya through with her hands on the feline's buttcheeks. “But you want to go this way. So stop complaining!” She shoved, eliciting a semi flustered grunt from Sonya. “But I have to say, you have wide hips. What do you do; doing buttcheek exercise?”

"No… I just refuse to give up my Pop-tarts." Sonya replied with a cute pout. With that shove though, it helped her reach the next wide cavern. She gasped for breath in relief when she made it out. "Oh wow… at least it's pretty here. Look at all these crystals."

Eliza crawled out of the gap and stood beside the feline displaced. Eliza looked up in awe at the ones on the ceiling. “They sure are.”

Sonya began to walk forth while watching the star-like crystals overhead. It was like the night sky had been moved underground. However, looking up as she walked left her blind to the ground. Eliza reached out and grabbed her and pulled her back, causing her to quickly lose and catch her footing. "Whoa!"

“Look where you're walking.” Eliza said pointing at a hole Sonya almost fell in. Sonya's ears folded back in shame.

"Jeezes. Did ya have to pull so hard though? Coulda just grabbed a tail." She advised. And then she realized where her head was. "Oh. Uh…" She pulled her head off Eliza's breasts. She was so flustered that she ended up stepping on a creature's sinkhole trap. A small puff of sand was all the warning she had before it collapsed, taking her into the ground. "Shi-!"

***Minutes later***

Sonya groaned after she landed. "Ugh… I'm so lucky I got a fall compensation augmentation. Otherwise, the fall damage would have killed me…" She mutters to herself. She quickly began to look around and observe her surroundings to gauge how safe it was. It was dark, so she instinctively reached for her Manipulator. But it was gone. "...I really need a better loop." She sighed, very upset that she had lost her tool again.

It was then a low buzzing noise was heard around Sonya. She suddenly stood on full alert, looking around on guard before something suddenly grabbed hold of her legs pulling them tightly together.

"Shit!" She drew her claws and attempted to swipe at the unseen binding only to keep hitting nothing but air as she kept trying to feel around for what was binding her legs. After a couple of moments something that felt slimy to the touch wrapped around both her arms pulling them tightly to Sonya’s sides as she was forced to the floor facing the ceiling. She meowed in surprise and immediately started wriggling. She kept trying to struggle free, but without sight, she didn't know how to handle this.

After a couple of seconds, something suddenly wrapped around her neck forcing her to try and breath in heavy breath forcing her to open her mouth before something dropped from the ceiling falling onto her face, as she felt something long and hard forced into her mouth creating a seal around her face. Sonya gave a muffled shout in surprise. However, she was beginning to see how helpless she was. She prayed Eliza would appear before she suffocated. Right now, she focused on breathing and saving her energy since she couldn't break free with raw strength. One might ask why she isn't using her psychic abilities. Well, you can't exactly use them well unless you know what you're doing. And Sonya doesn't know anything down here and can't see anything either. Knowing using it wrong could render her brain dead, she feared using it at all in this instance.

Nothing seemed to happen for a second before a sweet-tasting liquid filled her mouth, causing her to hesitantly investigate what's in her mouth with careful interest. Using her tongue, she licked over the intrusion, trying to get a feel for its shape. 'Is this…? Oh. Oh, that's kinky.'Sonya thought as she began to realize this situation. 'And a little cliche for a porn story. I guess.' She had a dick in her mouth, tied up in a dark room. With no way to escape. Yep, that about sums it up.

The sweet-tasting liquid that was streaming from the intrusion continued flow pooling in her mouth causing an almost burning sensation to assault her taste buds as it covered her tongue. Having no choice but to swallow it, she let it slide down her throat into her stomach. The following feeling of burning lust told her she hadn't just swallowed cum. She clenched her legs together in reaction, and blush coloured her face as the aphrodisiac made her heart pump a little harder.

After a few minutes of waiting the liquid continuously filled her mouth as her lust continued to grow as a pool of liquid formed around her. After a couple of moments, her legs were suddenly released before being pulled wide exposing her soaked pussy to the world, the cold air going through the cave rushing against her exposed body. Sonya shrieked into her gag, instinctively trying to close her legs to ward off the cold air more than anything. She hated the coldness and struggled to ward it off.

It was then that Sonya felt something warm probing the lower half of her body seemingly creating a wall from the draft coming through the cave. Sonya was a little hesitant at first. But after a moment of the aphrodisiac affecting her, she let it in without a fight, having a feeling it would satisfy her desire for warmth and sexual satisfaction. Knowing the source of it was so close, she tried to peer through the darkness to see her molester only to see what looked to be white plating covering her vision that seemed to be moving closer to her. She was confused and didn't quite know what to make of this thing. And thus, she didn't really react in time.

It only took her a matter of seconds to realise her mistake as Sonya felt something forcing its way inside her moving forwards and backwards in a rhythmic motion as she seemed to sway with it before she noticed she was no longer against the ground and her face was directly up against her captured plating. Sonya was wishing she could see in the dark right about now. But now, she had little choice but to sit there and moan as she took it. Though thanks to the aphrodisiac, she was quite thoroughly enjoying the fucking she was receiving.

It was then that the creatures stopped moving as Sonya felt the appendage inside her begin to shift almost like it was opening up before a large object began to shift inside her pushing tightly against her as if it were being forced into her. Her face lit up, much like the ones from the "that's my fetish" meme. This was something Sonya would have loved, even without the aphrodisiac, thus the now fevered pitch of her moaning.

This continued as Sonya felt the process repeat 12 times in total as her belly body swelled as she began to look as if she was pregnant, her stomach almost rubbing against the floor as her ‘mate’ began to walk again, dragging her through the caves as it did.

Sonya's tongue would have been hanging from her mouth if it could. Sonya had thoroughly enjoyed that brief mating session. Her awareness currently reduced to the ovipositor lodged in her pussy, she hardly noticed or cared where she was being taken. She just kept squeezing over it in the hope she would receive more.

Sonya continued being dragged around the caves during which time she had been filled with at least five more eggs before she was suddenly dropped against a nearby wall her face facing it as her hands were forced into it, preventing her from looking around, she could, however, hear the familiar sounds of moaning all around her. She started to become a little lucid as she listened, letting her ears pivot every which way to hear.

'There's more girls here? All being used for breeding? Damn… I'm probably in no position to help. Maybe Eliza can track me using my manipulator though…' Sonya thought to herself. She shuffled in place for a second to get more comfortable. Feeling the eggs move inside her, she moaned again since this was very much her fetish.

After a couple of moments, she felt something force her legs wide again as another pressure was placed over her back, being followed by a similar feeling to before as something began thrusting into her again. She gasps and tries to look down, but with her head locked as it was, she couldn't see anything. But the feeling of this thing fucking her drove her up the wall, and she began trying to thrust back, with amateur skill.

This continued for a couple of minutes with the creatures behind her moving without sound just constantly thrusting into her, without a care for Sonya who just sat there moaning in enjoyment, fully expecting more eggs. Instead, she received a small torrent to something warm and liquid pouring into her womb. Sonya's back arched as much as it could while she screamed in climax. As she came, she began to feel a small pulse from each of the eggs inside her. It was now she understood what had happened. This one had fertilized eggs… and now she was really pregnant. This filled her with joy.

After a couple of seconds, the weight was removed from Sonya’s back before the creature moved away leaving Sonya to her thoughts.

'This is the best accident I could have hoped for~'

***Meanwhile***

Eliza stood over the collapsed hole Sonya fell in. She took a deep breath before reeling her right fist before putting enough force and smashes through the collapsed spot. It gave a rumbling sound before breaking since she stood over it she fell along with the broken debris down the hole.

Moments later she landed with her feet hit the ground. A mech helmet that's shaped like a diamond with the top curve back, a rectangular visor glass where her eyes are lit up dimly. She turned her head in each direction as the rest of her mech gear materialized on her.

Around her looked to only be a single continuous tunnel going in a single direction, the walls looking to be covered in a thick slimy substance that looked to be slowly creeping down the walls. Sonya's matter manipulator lay in a pile of goop by one of the walls. The slime seemed to suppress its glow.

Eliza, despite the slimy stuff; went over and pulled out the device out of the sticky substance. She checks to make sure it’s still in good condition, which appears to be slightly malfunctioning due to residue in certain parts. However, upon picking it up, a blue figure, likely an AI, appeared on a hologram screen.

"Phew… that stuff was nasty. Thanks… but we should probably find Sonya. Much as she enjoys what's happening to her, she has things to do in her own world, and I'm sure Satou will miss her. I can point the way for ya." The Avian AI spoke. This AI was very… animated.

Eliza nods before storing the device in her helmet, the AI now appears in her visor sight. “Sorry if your temporary stay in one of the data spaces isn’t comfy.” Eliza apologized as she walked through the single path available to her.

"It should be fine. I'll highlight the fluid trail on your visor. It'll distinguish her DNA from the rest. By the way, you can call me AVIAN." A trail highlights in front of them, leading from a large puddle.

“I see… AVIAN, how is your condition?”

"I could be better. Once Sonya has me back and performs a maintenance check, I'll be back in top condition." AVIAN answered.

“I can do that too, but I’m in the middle of installing at the moment.” Eliza thought for a moment before continuing. “Anyways, can you send in any data files that I can do an anti-virus check? Since you are in my gear it wouldn’t hurt to make sure.”

"Afraid not. Most of my functions are locked, without Sonya. All I have available to you are the tools necessary to find and rescue her." AVIAN replied.

“Sorry to be blunt but your device sucks.” Eliza said. “If that's all you can do in lockdown then I rather not want to rely on it. Especially if it's a life or death situation.”

"My device is a tool. Not a weapon. If one needs to rely on it in life and death, then clearly they need to rethink how it's used."

“I was talking about both, being a tool and a weapon.” Eliza states with a deadpan at the AI.

"My crafting interface can be used to make weapons. But the manipulator itself was never designed to be a weapon. In any case, watch the roof. I'm detecting hostiles ahead." AVIAN warned.

Eliza soon reached a path that seemed to split into two paths. Eliza observed and listened for something, anything that might give her a clue to which path she should take. The cum trail at least leads to the left, towards an open cavern. Moaning could be heard from both directions, however. Eliza turned a dial at the side of her head that went into X-Ray Vision mode on. Thanks to this, she could see Sonya bound against a wall and many other mares present.

Eliza went to the tunnel with caution, keeping herself hidden as she searched every way for any other lifeforms. There were, of course, many creatures around what appeared to be the hive. The whole area seemed to have many large ant-like creatures with snow-white carapaces moving around the cavern, many of them seeming to be looming over the bound mares.

At the very least, Sonya appears to be unguarded. She was sitting there, humming a song she knew from Legend of Zelda.

Eliza took one deep breath then rushed at the nearest creature; her mech sword ready on the draw in its safety sheathed.

However, as Eliza unsheathed her sword a group of lustful moans were heard behind her before she turned to see five bound mares behind her, two of which were being used by some of the ants before others turned spotting Eliza instantly before suddenly swarming her as each ant went into a sudden frenzy. Seeing this, she stopped and spun in place with a sword outwards, an energy field surrounded her.

Sonya stopped humming. '...Did I just hear a spin attack?' She thought out loud. She began struggling to turn around and see what was going on, but still finding herself unable to move enough to see what was happening.

Feeling the energy field reached its density, Eliza's feet slid in a circle as she put all her strength into this next swing, feeling resistance at first but gave way as her swing released the energy field like a barrier. The barrier shoots out and expands like a balloon. It hits all the creatures as it passes by; staggering them off balance. Small built up energy that latched onto them shot to another target while the one on that target shot to another, like a chain lightning spell, jumping from target to target faster than light. When they finished their last jump they gave a massive energy burst before zipping back to their first latched target and exploded like fireworks.

Everything was silent for a minute. Most of the hive was taken out, left twitching or dead. The rest began to retreat deeper into the Hive some of them grabbing ahold of the mares as they passed to take with them. Eliza didn't give them a chance as she zipped at them like a wolf hunting its prey; quickly sheathing and unsheathing her blade so the protection resets itself. She hits them to either let the girls go or knock them out like the others, those who keep going have been hit so many times that they are either unconscious or dead.

Minutes later and Eliza making sure that everyone was accounted for and no more of the ant-like metallic creatures within her detection radius decided that it’s safe. She activated her detector for any other of those creatures that are still around; it has been studying the creatures during the whole fiasco that it got everything it needs to do any detection on them.

This only took a few seconds as she found that almost all of the creatures had gone but there were four small indicators showing just above her head. Seeing it on her visor Eliza moved out from below and look up at the ceiling; to find the creatures above her looked to be shaped almost like some kind of bat, but instead of hanging upside down it seemed to be attached to the ceiling using its skin to camouflage itself against the mucus-like substance that covered the room.

‘Must have spotted it while I was dealing with the ant things.’ Eliza thought as she headed to Sonya who had a similar looking thing covering her face to that on the ceiling and still seemed to have her legs spread to support her as Eliza could clearly see her clearly pregnant figure.

Sonya stopped struggling when she heard footsteps behind her. She gave a small mutter as if asking through her gag if she could be released. Her answer was the creature aka Sonya’s gag got shocked off her by a sword. “Sorry if I was ruining your fetish.” Eliza joked as said women help remove the felines restraints.

Sonya chuckled as she rubbed over her pregnant belly. "It was nice while it lasted. Although I think I'll be taking one of those gag things with me~. Where's my Matter Manipulator?"

Eliza held her hand as if holding a gun horizontally, the Matter Manipulator appeared in her grasp. She twisted her hand the other way and let her fingers grip loose. “Here.”

After taking it back, she pressed a few buttons and started using some other tools to fully clean it off. AVIAN reported all functions fully operational, to which Sonya smiled. "Alright, AVIAN. Mind providing me with a capture pod?"

"Of course!" AVIAN highlighted it in her inventory screen, and Sonya took it out. Once it was in her hand, she cast a light over the area. "Hope you didn't kill ‘em all…" Sonya muttered.

Eliza gesture to the creature that was Sonya’s gag on the floor. “It’s still alive, just shocked it unconscious.”

She looked at it and gave it a scan to be sure. AVIAN'S voice spoke up with the scan. "Pacifier: a creature from the Hive whose purpose is to latch onto and control females, bringing them back to the hive using their own feet." Avian summarized. "Condition: unconscious."

"Ah. I see. Alright then, guess I'll take that one." She lobbed the capture pod at it, reducing the creature to raw data inside the square-shaped Pokeball-like device. The white light at its centre turned red, marking a complete capture. Sonya smiled and put it away. "All ready to go. I think I've done enough exploring for today."

Eliza rolled her eyes before smacking the felines butt, drawing a light blush and yelp. “Whatever. Help me free the others, also clean up your vagina it’s leaking.” Eliza said as she went to free the other mares. Sonya giggled and rolled her eyes. With quick use of her manipulator, she put her uniform back on and went about helping free the other girls as well. Her uniform was a little tight and did nothing to hide her pregnant gut, but she enjoyed it.

It took some time but eventually got all the mares freed. Eliza was planning to help each on up to the surface since teleporting could be bad for pregnant ponies. Sonya made this task easy by simply using her matter manipulator to just dig a path up. With that they helped them out, Eliza planned to find somewhere that’s far away from the caribou’s. Upon reaching the surface, Sonya messed around on her crafting interface. After a good minute or so, she turned to the mares.

"Now then. I'm going to build you girls your own self sufficient place. You won't need to go anywhere or get anything from anywhere else as long as you can maintain it. But I'll allow you to choose where I build." Sonya informed them.

The girls all looked toward Eliza with looks of hope on their faces. She had been the one to save them, after all… but many of them were rubbing their pregnant guts. Chances are, many of them might want to build a new hive. And while Sonya wouldn't be against that, she'd have to talk about domesticating their new hive… somehow. Eliza gave a nervous look, she gestures for them to follow as her sensors detected a building in a snowy forest and led them there. Eliza sigh. ‘This is going to take a while.’

After half an hour of waiting, the door to the room Satou was in opened. Dainn walked in, dragging the girl from before into the room by a leash as she cried, tears staining her face.

“Satou, how did it go with that spell?” Dainn asked cheerfully as he threw the girl to his feet. The girl curled up in a tight ball and started crying.

Satou looked down at the girl, seeing that her body was covered in cuts and bruises with what looked like old whip marks along her back, but the strangest of all was what looked to be black burns over her arms and part of her face.

He slowly knelt down to her before raising her face to look at his, her eyes clenched shut tightly before he calmly asked. “Miss, are you okay?”

The girl in front of him didn’t answer, instead only shaking her head. Dainn placed the new collar into Satou’s hand without a word before walking to the other side of the room and sitting down on a chair.

Satou, however, chose to ignore Dainn and Sombra. Placing his hand behind the girl's head allowing her to rest her head against him as she seemed to freeze up at this.

“Don’t worry, I won’t harm you.” Satou calmly said as he rubbed the back of her head.

The girl stayed silent for a moment, slowly opening her eyes. She grabbed a hold of Satou tightly, wrapped her arms around his chest. Then continued sobbing, meanwhile; Satou rubbed the back of his head before looking to Dainn. “Maybe leave us for over an hour, then I should be sorted with her.”

Dainn only looked at Satou curiously but nonetheless did as Satou requested. He takes Sombra’s lead and leaves without a word.

Satou looked down to the girl who continued gripping him tightly as he looked at some information on her, only to find to his surprise a lot of information was filled out including her name being Filo, a Title being Displaced, with a class that said Monk along with the word owner below with the name Nathan Shield.

He then calmly looked down before saying. “Miss, now they are gone, are you okay?”

The young girl looked back up to him before shakily saying. “Yes, I’m… okay.”

“Do you have a name I can call you by?”

“Filo...” The young girl muttered, trying to hide her face again before pausing. Filo looks back at Satou and asks. “A-are… you like me and the others?”

“I assume you mean a Displaced by that?” Filo just nodded her head to Satou’s assumption. He simply nodded to her to her question with a calm response. “Then yes; I am.”

“Then… can you keep me away from the others?”

“Keep you away from them? Why?”

“All but Mr Isaac are cruel and scary, I’d rather risk it with you than them… But I’m still his slave, I can’t run away or he’ll come after me again.” Filo responded, fear clear in her voice.

“I can change that… But the only way to do it would be trading one master for another.” Satou responded. Filo looked up to him, her eyes wide. “But, I can’t promise the way will be painless.”

“Do you mean you could be my master mister… umm?”

“Satou, Satou Pendragon.” Satou introduces himself. “But only if you want me to be, I won’t force it on you.”

“Please… I want to trade from him to be yours.” The young girl responded looking at Satou while tightly gripping hold of the collar around his arm. “I’ll need to wear this right?”

“You would, but that may not free you from your old owner.” Satou responded. “I have a way to do it, but I need you to close your eyes and trust me… It may be P-”

Filo then cut him off. “Master, it can’t be as painful as being with them. Just do it.” She responded; standing up in front of him, not hiding any part of her form before closing her eyes. “I’m all yours master.”

Satou could only shake his head before he saw a small puddle appear under her as he thought. ‘I really hope it’s not the crystals making her act this way.’

He placed a hand over a large purple rune filled symbol on her chest before she seemed to shiver at his touch slightly. ‘This feels so wrong.’ Satou thought to himself before closing his eyes and muttering. “Realignment Contract” The symbol on Filo’s chest began to change from purple to black. Filo continued shivering, the pool around her getting larger while the process proceeded.

“Please master! Make me yours!” Filo shouted through moans before the light faded. She fell forward into his arms and a smile plastered over her face. “Thank you, Master.”

“It was my pleasure, Filo.” Satou responded, before moving the collar towards her neck before she suddenly forced her neck into the collar before saying. “I’ll be yours, I promise.” She seemed to rub her face up against Satou affectionately.

‘Okay, seriously hope she was scared of Dainn, and this Nathen guy and isn’t some really lusty kid.’ Satou thought to himself before rubbing Filo on the back of the head again.

“Oh and master. I am mentally legal, if you want me for that, I was 24 before this.” Filo responded with a cute smile. Sitting on Satou’s knee almost like a young child would before falling asleep in his arms.

“Great… just great.” Satou muttered before picking her up so she was resting her head on his shoulder, he supported her like she was a young child. He moved and sat on a chair and slowly let Filo fall asleep in his arms. “Eliza’s gonna hate me for this.”

Chapter 12 (Rewritten)

Sonya, Eliza, and the freed crystal ponies girls stood at a hidden forest clearing, big enough for a village. The only thing that's there is an old building that doesn’t look stable, but the wide space is what Sonya needed.

It looked like a good place to set up, and Sonya was already at it with her manipulator. The device was showing hologram displays of the grey stone brick flooring she was planning to lay down. A pull of the trigger made it real, rather than a hologram. A little sweep and the foundation of the building was already done.

Eliza looked at all the pregnant females and called out. “Does anyone need anything?”

One of the mares stepped forth. She was cradling her pregnant belly. "I think some of us would like a safe, controlled place to handle our babies. Freedom is nice, but we've come to enjoy being filled…" The mare said with a blush. She had a kind of fire-coloured theme about her, but she didn't look like Spitfire. This mare had emerald green eyes and was a unicorn.

“You're filled as it is Miss.” Eliza stated a matter of fact.

The mare chuckled. "Yeah, but I mean… Well, I personally enjoy those moments when I'm brought back for a refill." She elaborated. Many of the others nodded in agreement. A few seemed too shy to admit it.

“Sorry to disappoint you then. Anyways, once those eggs leave your bellies I or some pony will come to check on your medical health.” Eliza said.

The mare nodded in acceptance. Glancing around at the cutie marks on the other mares, she spoke up. "I'm not seeing any medical marks. Anyone else a doctor?"

“As soon as I find one I’ll send them to you all for medical checks.” Eliza reassured them. Seeing no one else speaking up, the spokesmare nodded to Eliza.

Sonya finished building the frame of the house but then sigh at a sudden realization.

"Dammit. I need to get more wood. I really underestimated how much material this will cost…" Sonya lamented. "Guess I'll lay out the garden while I'm still here…" She started picking out a spot and setting up some automated grow-beds for various crops. Once that was all set up, she turned to the surrounding forest and used her tool to cut down some trees.

The girls, curious about these grow-beds, approached them and looked at the parts. A crystal earth pony, smiled at it. "These things should cut down on the work. All we'd have to do is carry the food in. Maybe work it into something edible, if it's something like rice or wheat." She appraised.

Eventually, given some time and materials, Sonya finishes building the house, a farm, and a cavern to safely keep the creatures in. She was shivering from the cold air and breathing in and out from the extra weight and limit of movement, she was walking into the house every now and then to manage the cold. The first thing she did, of course, was install heaters and air conditioners.

Eliza had to ask. “Why didn’t you just ask me to cut the trees?”

"Manipulator took care of it." She answered. "Now for one last thing…" She shuffled through her crafting menu a little, looking for the micro terraformer. It would act much like the Crystal Empire's crystal heart, but as a machine, it would be much less fragile but require more maintenance. Once she had it made, she placed it on the porch and turned it on.

“What’s this for?” Eliza asked, observing the device.

"It's a micro terraformer. Similar to a regular terraformer, it alters a biome to whatever you need it to be. Much like the Crystal Heart, it only covers so much ground." Sonya soon stopped shivering as the temperature rose. "Unlike the Crystal Heart, however, it only needs to be used once, and its effects are permanent."

Eliza shrugged before taking off her helmet, letting her long white hair free. She turns the helmet around to observe the helmet she recently gained. “So, was it made to warm up the surrounding proximity?”

"Yeah. Warm enough to crow crops, but still cool enough to grow some of the local crops." Sonya detailed.

“Well, let's see how the others like their place.” Eliza said. Sonya nodded and looked through the crowd of females. They had been investigating everything they saw Sonya's tool build. Many of them were wondering how Sonya's tool could do this. Others were discussing what to grow in the crop plots. One particular Pegasus was following the group spokesmare around and said mare was currently talking to the crystal pony mare who weren't currently pregnant. Those being only 2.

Thinking this will take a while, Eliza went to her menu then to Telepathy chat and call in Satou while she’s waiting.

After a couple of moments, Satou’s voice spoke up mentally. “Okay… So that should work… Is this thing on, can you hear me?”

“Yes, I am. This is VR Eliza calling from Telepathy Chat.” Eliza mentally in her head. “Is communication alright on your end?”

Satou didn’t instantly respond. “I think so… You may have been muted though before now… What's the issue?” During this; Eliza heard a young child-like voice but couldn’t place the words.

“Nothing much, I got separated from Sonya falling in a hole; then went to find her only to find a lot of females being used as pregnant beanbags for ants and saved them with small casualties. And then hid them in a hidden location away from the Crystal Empire and got them settled in.” Eliza explains, watching the cloudy sky.

“I’m surprised that you're telling me this. I’d have expected you to have kept it a secret.” Satou responded calmly, then Eliza heard the same voice as before seemed to mutter something.

“Who’s that?” Eliza asked in curiosity.

“I would expect you to already know what went off here through Sombra.” Satou responded with a sigh. “It’s another Displaced, someone native to our world. She was being kept in the dungeons under the Empire, Dainn decided to put her in a line-up for the new slave to use that new collar that's being made before he handed her to me… Poor things covered in injuries which she claims was done by her old master, someone called Nathen Shield.”

“I see. No, I can’t, VR me can’t do that, only the original can do that.” Eliza said mentally; then add. “I hope she is in good hands.”

“She is. She is with me after all.” Satou responded before Eliza heard the young girl's voice again saying; “Thank you, master...” in a slow, seemingly half-awake voice.

Sonya soon finished up with one of the mares, having appointed the orange mare name Summer as the chief here for now. She turns back to Eliza.

"Alright. I think everything is going to be ok here. They're all set to live here for a while and I've given Summer a manipulator. We should head back to the Empire now. I'm getting pretty hungry." Sonya reported.

Eliza nods before going back to telepath chat. “You heard her, we’re returning. VR Eliza out.” Eliza logs off the chat and with that, Sonya and Eliza began their return to the empire.

When the call ends, Satou looks down to find Filo had her face resting against his chest, one moment of her rubbing her head affectionately against Satou that made him smile.

Looking back at the clock on his menu as he thought. ‘Thirty seconds, then the spell on her will be permanent.’

As the clock slowly ticks down, he felt Filo begin to stir from her sleep before wrapping her arms around his neck as the countdown hit five seconds. She mutters somewhat clearly. “Master, thank you for making me yours.” When the countdown hit zero; she leaned in kissing Satou, holding him there for a minute. She slowly backed away, her face blush. She then rests her head over Satou’s shoulder.

Sound of the door opening caught his attention, and Satou found Dainn walking in the room. The caribou king smiles at Satou. “I see everything went well, she’s all yours now I take it?”

“She is.” Satou responds as he rubs Filo’s back of head, causing her to sink into his shoulder. “So, is there anything else we need to sort today?”

“Just one thing.” Dainn reaches into a small bag, pulling out a square-shaped case before passing it to Satou. “A gift, from me to you.” Satou didn’t respond instantly as he opened the case to find a badge. The badge is the same design as the schematics he had seen a few days before.

The badge itself looked to be handcrafted, each detail carefully engraved into the metal, clearly showing whoever made it took pride in their work. Looks to be slightly modified with the back of the badge looking more like a shield in a similar style to what you would see on a police badge, having white metal with gold inlays around the edge, while in the centre has a black flame-shaped pattern with Satou’s name above it and title below it in white text.

After a couple more seconds Satou picked the badge up from the case before holding it in his hand. Slowly turn it, checking each detail while speaking up. “Dainn, it looks amazing! Would you be able to find out who crafted this and tell me so I can thank them myself?”

“I think the blacksmith who made this would be honoured to hear from you, I will make sure to send him your way when I get the chance.” Dainn responds before saying. “Is there anything else you need?”

Satou paused for a second before answering. “Would it be possible for you to get me as many books as you can on the current laws that are in effect here so I can make sure I know all of them, along with any recipes that could create the effects on this list?” He passes a list of the fetishes Sonya requested.

“I can do that for you, and I’ll make sure to get them delivered to your house.” Dainn told him with a smile he never seemed to lose when he was in Satou’s presence.

“Thank you, it will be a great help.” Satou replied, bowing to Dainn.

At this point; Filo climbs off him, standing by Satou’s side before saying. “Master, would I be able to give you a ride home?”

“Are you sure you can do that?” Satou asked only to get a nod from Filo.

“I can get you some of the best riding equipment from the stables, we had some crafted that were made to suit her when she turns into that bird.”

Filo seemed to smile in delight at what she heard Dainn said before looking to Satou in hope. Satou said. “I don’t see why not, let's see what we have.”

Dainn nods with a smile. “Excellent, please follow me and we’ll get her geared up to take you home.” At this point, all three of them left the room with Filo reaching up and grabbing Satou’s hand as they walked through the castle.

A couple of minutes later; group walks out of the stable with Filo having transformed from a cute little girl into what looked to be a very large bird which could almost be compared to a Chocobo from Final Fantasy. She had white and pink feathers, along with a now larger blue collar around her neck along with what looked to be a completely black metal saddle with red and gold marking adorning it.

Satou climbs onto Filo’s back before looking back at Dainn as he says. “If you need me for anything you will be able to find me back home if I’m ever out again leave a message with Eliza, also we may need to find a way to keep in contact with each other.”

“I’ll look into it.” Dainn respond and add. “Have a safe trip home.”

“We will.” Satou said back as both he and Filo made their way back to their homes with Filo humming a strange tune the entire way home.

As Sonya and Eliza approached the city gate, Sonya tried adjusting her clothes to make her pregnancy less obvious. "Hope we have an explanation for this." She looked at Eliza, prompting a response.

“I don’t know. Maybe say that you got fat from an unusual magic and needed to bring you back to the Manor?” Eliza suggested unsurely.

"Well, mining crystals, full of magic… I guess that works." Sonya shrugged. Then she stopped at the gate.

As soon as they did; the same Caribou that they had met when they left the city stepped in front of them before calmly saying. “I’m glad you both made it back safely, I’m sure nothing happen-” he then paused looking at Sonya before saying. “I don’t think I need to ask about that… those giant ants?”

Sonya paused. Her honesty fought with the desire to cover it up, but she sighed. "Yeah. But I enjoyed it. I'm gonna be taking them back with me where I came from."

“You better check with your master that he wants them hatching and being in his home.” The Caribou responded calmly. “We really need to send a group out to exterminate those hives.”

"Oh, I won't be letting them in his home. I'll be building them one elsewhere." Sonya replied. "A more controlled setting where their population is controlled and people's exposure to them is limited to those who want to be bred."

“...You make it sound like those things got into your head a bit too much, might be an idea to get your master to take you for a check-up. Those things aphrodisiacs sometimes cause those they affect to become addicted to being bred against their will. Just a warning that your guide should pass on to Mr Pendragon.”

"What, a girl's not allowed to have crazy fetishes? Heh. Alright, I'll talk to him about it." Sonya promised.

“Just make sure you do.” The Caribou responded with a shake of his head before looking at Eliza. “I assume you must have cleared the nest out to rescue her. I don’t suppose that you found anyone else when you saved her, and I assume you exterminated a good portion of the nest at the same time.”

“I’m not a killer mister, however, few died during my rescue so they have fewer numbers. Ones who fled I just let them go since they didn’t get any of the captures, for anyone else… hmm, I don’t remember seeing any besides my feline companion here.” Eliza said in her usual emotionless face and voice, probably out of habit but didn’t matter at the moment.

The Caribou then groaned in annoyance before saying. “A piece of advice, if you ever come across another hive, exterminate all of it, including any unhatched eggs. If you don’t eliminate the entire hive they just come back stronger and more resistant to whatever killed them before. They are worse.”

Sonya chose to stay silent in that regard, seeing that their opinion wouldn't be swayed. She started walking through the gate, headed for Satou's mansion.

Eliza was about to follow but stop to ask the guard caribou. “Say, are you one of two that tried to touch me when I first arrived?”

“Try the moron who’s been sent to work in the palace guard, he wouldn’t stop doing that stuff when we were warned to stop all sexual activities when on duty.” The Caribou responded. “Don’t know if he’ll have a job… or his freedom much longer if he doesn’t learn.”

“Okay.” Eliza thanked before running to catch up to Sonya which is easy in her pregnant state.

Eventually, they arrived at Satou's mansion to find a peculiar sight. Saw what looked to be a Pegasus with a bright blue coat along with a two-tone, silver and red mane trying to climb into the house through a window with two caribou looking to be lifting him into the house. Sonya scowled, and a hand dropped to her manipulator, itching to shoot the obvious home invader.

"Hey. What do you think you're doing?" Sonya demanded. Her tone of voice instantly carried the tone of a military commander.

“Just following our orders.” One of the Caribou said before pausing, turning his head before saying. “I think I'm about to lose my job.”

"Your orders are to aid in a home invasion? You should know better than to mess with the current champion." Sonya warned. "Walk away now and maybe you'll get to leave uninjured." Eliza didn’t like this either, however she used her arm in Sonya’s path to stop her.

“Don’t Sonya. Stand down.” Eliza said as low as possible to Sonya. Sonya held back, at least thankful that Eliza had stayed her hand. Her eyes never left the three perpetrators.

“I’d hardly call this a home invasion.” The pegasus responded. “I’m just getting back those three sluts that were taken from me!”

“I see, and you couldn’t wait until Satou returned to discuss this because…?” Eliza asked with a raised eyebrow.

“Why should I listen or bargain with that lowlife! He’s a nobody who’s words should have no merit to them!” The stallion shouted back. “He supposedly lawfully voided my contract with those three, but he had no evidence of a crime!”

“Then why send those three maids to help fix up the place?” Eliza added calmly, it didn’t really make sense. Why would he send them if he didn’t like Satou?

“They served the king! Them working for him brought me in loads of bits so I could live like a king! But he sent them to serve that lowlife instead!” The stallion shouted in anger.

“Oh chill sir, no need to lose your cool. But to me, it looked like you wanted to get the king's good grace.” Eliza said in her own opinion. “Showing King Diann that you deserve to be in a higher class by getting on Satou’s good side by helping him out.”

“The king doesn’t need his opinions. After all, he lets useless sluts like you walk freely like you are worthy of standing alongside him, someone like that doesn’t have a right to be held in high regard by the king or anyone else for that matter. I’m much more capable than him in every way, by all rights I should be in his position. That whole contest must have been rigged so he’d win!”

Eliza rolled her eyes before spotted the caribou she asked about earlier at the gate but returned her gaze at the stallion. “Oh, how hurtful words you say, whatever will I do…” Dramatically sighed in utter sadness sarcastically. Then look back at him. “Say what you will but your words are just a dog's bark with no bite that’s more whining than any.”

“You think a slut like you has the right to talk to me that way!” The stallion shouted back.

Sonya growled with growing hatred. She almost pulled her gun out, but she just clenched her fists. "My claws say yes. Though I'd prefer to shoot you in the dick. Maybe you'd learn a lesson if you no longer had one?"

“Sonya, stay calm. Why don’t you go inside while I handle this, please.” Eliza asked nicely.

“Neither of you sluts are going anywhere!” The stallion shouted in anger. “You both need to learn how to speak to your betters.” He then saw Sonya's collar and looked at her pregnant belly before saying. “You're both his slaves aren’t you!”

“So what.” Eliza stated while standing in front of Sonya in protection. Also to keep Sonya out of any fight in her condition. But Sonya put a hand on Eliza's shoulder. She was trembling with anger. “Don’t Sonya.”

"Give me a reason!" Sonya growled lowly. Then louder to the stallion. "Give me a reason to fight back. To shoot your balls off. To maul you. Because the way you talk makes me want to bomb something."

“Cause you have no right to Sonya.” Eliza stated. “Any action you do is the action of Satou, that will give this guy reasons and I rather not harm a citizen even in city grounds.”

Sonya clenched her fists harder… Before she suddenly smiled. "Alright. But if he happens to have some kind of accident… I'll make sure I'm around to laugh." With that ominous note, Sonya began walking to the front door.

“You get back here!” The Stallion shouted again, running towards Sonya with his fist clenched as he pulled his arm back, only to suddenly get sent flying back onto the ground as he bounced a large white figure who appeared in front of him.

“Who in Faust's name is…” The stallion said before pausing looking up to see Filo looming over him with Satou sitting on her back before he climbed off her. The stallion froze up seeming to shake when Satou looked at him. “That… Faust save me.”

“Is something the matter?” Satou asked, walking towards the stallion who tried to back away in fear.

“Girls… what's gone off?” Satou asked as Filo stepped aside so Satou could see Eliza and Sonya.

“Nothing to worry about.” Eliza said as her eyes looked at the huge bird. “Is this her?” Pointing a thumb at Filo.

“Yes that's her.” Satou responded as he unmounted the big bird. Filo suddenly was surrounded by smoke before she reappeared in her human form resting her head against Satou’s side, with a large smile on her face.

“I see.” Eliza said unsure. “Anyways. Has the visit gone well?”

“As well as you would expect.” Satou responded before calmly asking. “What's actually happened between the man behind me who looks like he has a grudge against me and you two?”

Eliza looked at Satou before sighing in annoyance. “Satou, It’s not something dangerous.”

"It's just a prick trying to steal back what he calls his. And he even acted like he had the right to control what we can and can't do. I would have shot his dick off if Eliza weren't here to stop me." Sonya added.

“Sonya, inside, now.” Eliza said, though in her mind she's just getting frustrated by both of them. “Get something to eat while you're in there.”

Sonya rolled her eyes and went inside. "Alright, mom. Whatever you say." She opened the door and headed to the kitchen.

Satou just rolled his eyes in annoyance before looking at the pegasus. “I can only apologize for my slave's actions, I’m afraid I just got her and am still in the process of training her.”

The pegasus didn’t respond, him just glaring at Satou without a word.

“Okay, can I ask what your reason is for your visit to my home today? I’d like to resolve whatever problem you have as calmly as possible.” Satou responded.

“I want my three sluts back now!” the stallion shouted back.

“Okay… I assume you mean the first three maids I got working here. So that must make you Mr Wild Strikes.” Satou responded calmly before holding a hand out to his side gesturing for Wild Strikes to follow him. “Would you like to come inside so we can sort this out like the adults we are, there's no need to get into a fight over this.”

“There’s plenty of reasons, you lowlife piece of scum!” Wild Strikes shouted back in anger before saying. “You took my sluts from me without any lawful reason! I demand you return to me what is mine!”

“Mr Strikes, I assume you have seen the documentation in regards to why your three slaves are staying here for the time being. We found that their health was below safe standards for the job they were doing.” Satou responded calmly.

“All three were healthy when they left my care!”

“One was on the brink of starvation, and all three were supporting severe injuries. They could have been serving important international diplomats and if something was to happen due to their injuries it may have caused untold issues. They were taken into my care to make sure they were as healthy as possible in case they were needed to take up an important role like that again.” Satou responded, sounding almost calm and controlled throughout the conversation.

“But they were fine! I saw no injuries!”

“When we had them checked over we found all of them had multiple old and fresh bruises covering their bodies, large whip marks covering their backs that looked to have left open scars that looked recently done along with poorly healed fractures to their limbs, along with those all three looked to have not been fed a proper meal in at least a month. I have looked into this and in the owner's handbook that was signed by you it said all mares working with or near the royal place must always be healthy and free of any injuries, both internal and visible to guests.”

The stallion's glare seemed to soften slightly before he said. “but they were fine when they left that morning?”

“They clearly weren’t Mr Strikes.” Satou responded. “Please come inside and I’ll get someone to prepare you a drink so we can resolve this issue and prevent any more issues like this occurring.”

Wild Strikes seemed to pause for a second before saying. “That may be a good idea. I may not trust a lowlife like you, but it seems you do want what's best for the city and the king.”

“Then please follow me inside, we’ll go to my office to sort this and I'll have one of the maids bring you something to eat and drink, but for the moment, your guards will need to stay in the main hall just outside my office or leave.” Satou responded.

Wild Strikes simply nodded his head before saying. “They’ll stay outside the room, and I can assure they will not cause any problems.”

“That's fine, in that case, if you could all follow me.” Satou responded before turning walking inside with Filo sticking close to him as the group entered the house as Satou said. “Eliza, would you get one of the maids to bring our guest up some food and some drinks for us?”

“Already have Satou, during your last comment.” Eliza explained as she followed beside him. “It’ll be up in five minutes.”

“Thank you, Eliza.” Satou responded as Satou, Filo and Wild Strikes walked into the room with his two guards standing outside as they seemed to shuffle nervously with one trying to avoid Eliza’s gaze.

Eliza noticed and looked at the caribou. “You're the Caribou from back then.” The Caribou didn’t respond looking away from her clearly nervous of being around Eliza. Eliza sighs with her eyes rolling. “Come on, say something.”

“I’m sorry, but my friend here is currently in a lot of trouble, he doesn’t want to risk getting into any more… or falling to his urges.” The second Caribou responded.

“Touch or sex?” Eliza couldn’t help out of curiosity.

“Both.” The first caribou muttered, trying to avoid looking at Eliza. His hand travelled towards his crotch but nervously pulled it back.

“Oh…” Eliza simply said, watching the two; just in case.

“Is there something else you need sl- I mean miss?” First Caribou started saying but quickly corrected himself.

“Nothing.” Eliza said just as the maid came into view with a cart of food heading for the door.

As the mare opens the door, her eyes look at the two caribou; more on the first caribou. She took a silent sniff and her eyes looking down at his crotch with eagerness in her eyes. She must have caught herself second later when a blush appeared on her cheeks and decided to enter and close the door behind her.

Eliza looks at the first Caribou. “Well, you got Jazzy Pop’s interested in you.”

“I… I can’t.” The first Caribou responded, clenching his eyes shut as his hand shaking and a large bulge appeared between his legs.

“You're really trying hard aren’t ya? Trying to resist I mean.” The Caribou only nodded his head in agreement with gritting teeth.

“I see.” Eliza understood. “So, how's your arm? Still hurts?” The first Caribou simply nodded back.

“You okay?” Eliza asked.

“I don’t know… I need to cum.” The Caribou grunt with tears in his eyes as a damp patch appears around his crotch as the stench of arousal spreads around the hall.

“Oh my. Are you sure you're okay?” Eliza asked again. She would have to move to help but she would rather avoid being near the erect appendage so she stayed where she is.

The Caribou didn’t respond before looking towards Eliza, a feral look in his eyes as his focus all on her, snarling like wild animals. Eliza tense, taking a ready stance for anything the wild Caribou might do.

Luckily the other Caribou pulls out a strange short metal object covered in runes before quickly striking the feral Caribou in the chest as his body convulses before collapses to the ground panting as he twitched on the ground.

“I’m sorry about him.” The second Caribou apologized. He kneel down to the twitching caribou and place a silver collar around the twitching Caribou’s neck. “It’s a shame but he may be turned and sold now because of this.”

“Collar for a male…?” Eliza questioned.

“Not a male for a lot longer after that, I’d assume.” The Caribou responded. “As I said, he’ll be ‘rebranded’ and sold… Any slave can wear a collar, most males just don’t get turned into slaves.”

“Is his mind permanent that way or is it curable?”

“If I knew the answer to that I'd tell you. I assume with proper training he may recover, but it’s unlikely anyone would waste resources and time for him to simply relapse again. Someone will buy him; either keep him as a house pet, use him for sexual or stress relief or retrain him after his gender is corrected.”

A few rooms away, Sonya sighed. She got up and headed over to join the conversation in person. After she rounded the corner, she spoke up. "And if a psychic happened to be around to deal with his mental state?"

“Well… he may not be turned into a purple… but the others would likely still happen.”

Sonya hummed, but in a fit of indecision, looked at Eliza. "Should I buy him? I could take him back to my world, and I've got plenty of gold ingots to trade-in. And I know plenty of mares who'd love a piece of meat like him."

“No.” Eliza said flatly. “You already have that to deal with That as it is.” She points at Sonya’s pregnant belly.

Sonya looked down. "...Well to be fair, I have the entire population of Equestria on a starship with me ready and willing to help out, back home." Sonya pointed out. "And yes. I do mean the entire population."

“Answers still no.” Eliza deadpan, not budging her answer.

Sonya sighed. "Fine. Guess I can think about managing other things after I've managed this."

“To be fair, I doubt this idiot could even walk in a line without someone leading him on a leash.” The Caribou reason, looking to the twitching Caribou. “So I doubt he could be of use to either of you.”

Sonya shrugged. "Well, I'm psychic. I could probably plant some kind of mental program in his head to do whatever based on certain commands." Having nothing more to say, Sonya began to head to her bedroom.

“What sort of commands do you think she means? And she must want something for doing it.” The Caribou stated as he looked at Eliza.

“I don’t know.” Eliza said but she had a hunch, but rather not want to think about it.

Sonya pauses at that. She turns to them with a conflicted look. "I'm not even sure I should ask for compensation. I don't even belong in this world…"

“Even I know you don’t do something for nothing. That's not how any world would live by.” The Caribou responded.

"That's kind of a problem when the world I come from is converting into a space age civilization out of sheer necessity. I suppose I could ask for materials to bring home… But even then, I'm not sure how much I would need." Sonya said with a shrug.

“Well. That wouldn’t be something I could even consider offering.” The caribou responded. “Besides that's miles over my paygrade.”

“I doubt there's any materials you actually need from here.” Eliza said, can’t think of any materials she would need. Especially that Sonya’s world is a spaceship and not a planet.

Sonya thinks it over. "I guess in the end, since my version of Equestria was completely destroyed, any materials found only on Equestria would be valuable. Then again, every version of equestria is different in some way, shape or form."

“Either way, if you do take him and want to fix his head. You’ll have to work out the trade for it.” The caribou responded with a dismissive wave towards Eliza.

“We should wait for Satou to finish whatever he is doing first.” Eliza said to Sonya, though she wished not to. Sonya nodded, and leaned against a wall to wait.

It was then that the door opened, Satou walked out the room with Filo, Wild Strikes and the maid in tow. They stop at the scene.

Wild Strikes was the first to speak. “I’m not going to ask.”

“Then I will. What the hell happened out here?” Satou asked as he looked from the twitching Caribou to Eliza.

“Ask him.” Eliza points at the standing Caribou.

“He lost his marbles again. Had to be knocked out and collared, we’ll get him taken away, re-orientated and sold later.” The Caribou explain.

“Eliza, I’m gonna need a real explanation for what happened to him.” Satou responded. Sighing Eliza told him what she saw and in telepathic chat showed what she saw like a recording. “Okay… I think I get the gist of what's happened.” Looking over to the twitching Caribou, he asks. “Think you can leave him here? We’ll find a use for him, and you won’t need to worry.”

“He’s your problem, not mine, I never saw a thing.” Wild Strikes respond, beginning to walk away. “You come with me, and leave him here, he’s no use to me.” He said to the standing caribou guard.

“Of course.” The second Caribou responded following the pegasus.

“I’ll leave you be Mas- Mr Pendragon. You and your slaves won’t have any more problems with me.” Wild Strikes responded with a bow before leaving the house with the Caribou guard in tow.

Once he was sure that both of his guests were gone, Satou looked to Eliza before saying. “Need I guess who caused this madness, or do you already know?”

“Not sure.” Eliza simply said.

“I’m assuming Sonya’s the culprit?”

“I think.”

Sonya held up her hands. "Hey, I didn't do anything. He lost it all on his own. I just… Chose not to do anything about it because he worked for that prick." Sonya defended herself.

Satou just looked at her with raised eyebrow before shaking his head. His focus changed on the maid. “Could you and a few others take him to the showers, strip him out of his armour and ruined clothes then clean him down. After that we’ll work out what to do with him, just keep him safe and out of trouble till then.”

“Oh um, okay.” Jazzy said a bit of hesitance as she got to work.

“Miss is something wrong, if you want some help moving him, you just need to ask?” Satou responded, looking at the maid with a calm smile.

“O-oh no sir! I’m fine.” Jazzy reassures Satou as she uses her levitation magic to carry the twitching caribou.

“You think she’ll be okay with handling him?” Satou asked as he looked at Eliza.

“I think she'll ‘more’ than handle him.” Eliza sheepishly said before leaning closer and whispered about what happened before the maid went inside the office.

“And now that makes sense,” Satou responded with a shake of his head. “I’ve just caused a very awkward situation haven’t I?”

Sonya shrugs. "Awkward, kinky, who knows. Either way… Satou, I think we should talk. There's something I need to get off my chest."

“Anywhere specific you have in mind that you want to talk?” Satou asked, looking at her curiously.

"My room, please." Sonya begins leading the way.

“I’ll see you later Eliza.” Satou responded before following Sonya towards her room. Eliza just waves at him.

Satou halted when he felt someone pulling on his sleeve. Looked down to find Filo looking up at him before she said in a joyful tone. “Master, I’m here too!”

Satou simply smiled down to her before rubbing the top of her head. “Filo, I want you to look around here, for now, I’ll need to handle this one by myself. Okay.” He calmly requested.

“Okay, master!” Filo shouted before walking out a gleeful smile on her face as Satou made his way towards Sonya’s room.

As the duo made their way down the halls Satou kept looking at Sonya before he spoke. “You're sure you can’t just speak about this in the open? Is there a reason you need to be in your room?”

"Yes. If there are spies listening, or anything… I don't want them to hear it. This is important. It could even affect my performance in or out of a confrontation."

“Okay, if you feel it’s that threatening to you if it gets out. Why take the risk?” Satou asked as they reached the door to Sonya’s room. Sonya put her paw on the door handle.

"Because you're a Displaced that I believe can be trusted." She declared, before stepping in as Satou followed her inside, closing the door behind them.

“So. What specifically did you want to talk with me about?”

"It's… About my behavior. I know I've been a bit more hostile to that guy than I should be. And I know it's no excuse, but I do have an explanation. Due to my soul being a vessel for the spirit of the tree of harmony, I have a very strong and intense compulsion for justice… Even if I'm not in my own world."

“Trust me. There was someone more hostile towards him than you.” Satou responded with a dismissive wave.

"And what about next time I see him? I wanted to rob him of his memories. Alter his mind, drop in self destructive habits. That's not natural. Those are horrible desires I only just barely held back from doing. I wouldn't want that in my worst enemy, and I don't think I can trust myself to not do it at some point."

“I know this isn’t any much help in terms of what's happening, but half of the time this is being forced upon them by things like the Crystal Cock or even others around them. Do those individuals deserve to be punished as well?”

Sonya falters as she thinks about it. There's a flash of color in her eyes as something in her heart changes. "...No. They don't. They just need to be pushed back on the right path."

“By threatening. And the way you were thinking sounds more like throwing them then pushing.”

Sonya nods. "That sounds about right. Something tells me Harmony didn't exactly know any other way of handling it. And considering how the Elements of Harmony work… I dunno. One could call it the Light of Destruction."

“Sounds like she’s a pretty terrible being in my opinion.” Satou responded.

"You aren't wrong. I guess I need to have a chat with Harmony when I go to bed tonight. I can't have her compelling me to destroy things like that."

“Are you seriously saying that you have no control over it yourself. That makes you sound more like a slave in your own body.” Satou pointed out.

Sonya sighed. "The spirit of Harmony is a sentient being. I'm just its temporary host. The nature of our relationship wasn't all that clear when I first inherited it."

“To me it sounds like it’s to be her puppet, or body.” Satou pointed out.

Sonya frowns as she feels something deep within her. It wasn't clear what it was, but she could tell the Spirit was reacting to this somehow. "Hmm… Whatever it is, She and I have a lot to talk about."

“Sounds rather inconvenient to me.” Satou responded. “I mean you don’t even know what you get from the deal.”

"I do know though. It's made my psychic abilities stronger than I could fathom, and it's also stopped me from aging. Unless there's anything else I don't know about, I'd say it's a pretty good deal. Anyway… I think Harmony gets the idea. Do you have a Token by the way?"

“I don’t think I do.” Satou responded, raising an eyebrow in thought. “I know Eliza mentioned it in the past, but I never got around to making mine.”

"Ah. To start with, pick something that embodies you or an ideal you follow. Then, depending on what resources you use for skills or whatever, you can channel it into this object and embed a message into it. Any message works. If I understand your UI system right, you may or may not have a tutorial pop up."

“I suppose.” Satou responded before a screen appeared in front of him just like Sonya had predicted. Satou seemed to follow them, presenting the badge Dainn had made him but then became perplexed. “It doesn’t actually explain what this ‘phrase’ is about.”

"Like I said, just embed a message. Any will do, so long as it explains your purpose. Tokens are as flexible and varied as people are."

“I may need a few minutes to think about what to say.” Satou responded with a nervous chuckle while rubbing the back of his head.

"Take your time. You can always redo it if you aren't happy with the results." Sonya encouraged.

“I think I’ll sort it later after I’ve had some time to think about what I want. I don’t really want people to get the wrong idea from what it says and what they see… might also need to give them a warning about what those with me might have on or lack.”

Sonya didn’t seem to respond to him before she climbed into her bed and lied down. "At least I can rest for now. Although… when can you get to those fetish items we talked about?"

“First we need to talk about you fixing the mess with that Caribou guard.” Satou stated.

She pouts, still trying to insist she didn't do anything. "Fine. I didn't cause it, but I did offer to fix it." She got back up out of bed and gestured for him to lead her to the caribou.

Satou then shook his head before saying. “What are you intending to do to the Caribou?”

"You tell me. After all, he's yours now." She answered.

“I’ll decide that once we can be sure that he won’t end up relapsing after the fact.” Satou responded. Sonya nodded at him and waited for him to lead the way as they both walked out of the room.

When Satou & Sonya reached the shower rooms they looked to find two maids that looked to be from the cooks department, their faces little blush at the moment as they talked to each other to get their minds off something.

“You two girls are doing okay?” Satou asked as he walked towards the two maids. They turn to see Satou and Sonya and they stand straight like maids do.

“Oh! We’re fine Master Satou.” The left maid said in reassuring with the right nodding in agreement.

“Yes yes, we’re perfectly fine.” The maid on the right added.

“You sure? You both look a bit flustered.” Satou responded sceptically.

“Yes!” Both maids said in unison.

Satou could only smile at them. “Okay then. I won’t push on any more. But could you tell me how things are going inside there?” He gestured to the room behind them. That brought back the blush on their faces.

“You don’t wanna know,” “Yeah please don’t.” Both maids said in a ‘taking turns talking’ way.

"Considering I've been appointed to fix his mind, I think I should know something." Sonya replied.

“Um, let's just say;” Left maid started.

“Jazzy Pops is having a dream come true.” Right maid follow-up unsurely on her wording.

Sonya raised an eyebrow. She looked at Satou. "Hmm. I think we're about to get a show."

“I should have guessed.” Satou responded before saying. “I think we better head inside and sort this out… I also have a suspicion I need to check out.”

“I’m sorry,” Left maid said, then the maid on the right spoke next. “But you're gonna have to wait for a while.”

“I’m gonna need more of a reason than that to not go in; girls.” Satou responded.

“Privacy, does that help get the message or have you forgotten that?” Left maid stated bluntly.

“Sister!” Right maid hissed but the maid beside her shrugged.

“I’m assuming whoever either owns you or owned you before, really wasn’t a nice guy.” Satou responded before adding. “Okay, then how long do you need us to wait to actually help him?”

“Tomorrow… maybe two… three?” The right maid started to say but changed from sure to unsure.

“Can’t tell when it concerns Jazzy Pop’s horny days.” Left maid sheepishly smiled.

“You do realise the longer he’s like he is, the harder it could be to fix him?” Satou responded before adding. “But I can understand why.”

Sonya frowned. "Wait, so we're really just gonna…?" She trailed off. Getting a deeper sense of the mare in the room ahead, she felt a shiver run down her spine, visibly fluffing up her tail. Something told her she did not want to entertain the idea of letting that mare use Sonya in place of the caribou… "Uh. Okay."

Satou then looked back to the maid again before saying. “I don’t know a lot about miss Pop’s, think you could tell me about her?”

The left maid used her fingers to count. “Let's see… Jazzy Pop’s is a nice mare. She used to work as a stripper but stopped and became a foal donner, you know what that is right?” She asked for clarification.

“Essentially a surrogate mother I assume?”

She nods as she continues. “Sadly she never knows where or who’s foals are hers. After a few years she stopped and wanted to have her very own foals; but because of her ‘needs’ and what she calls ‘horny days’; she couldn’t focus on that, just like now.”

“Well I assume being here really isn’t helping matters?” Satou responded.

The left maid shrugged. “I don’t know, wish we did.” The maid on the right nods slightly.

"Yeah… I can sense it. She is pretty strongly affected by the Crystal Cocks." Sonya observed.

“How do you know? You're a psychic, not a magic detector.” The left maid said sarcastically.

"Lust is also a mental state. Her mind keeps putting kinky images in mine." Sonya replied.

“Horny days are today so yeah, but that doesn’t prove that she’s affected by the crystal cock. I mean me and my sister are still ourselves.”

"True. I'd be thinking about hosting parasitic tentacles even without the crystal cock, so you have a point." Sonya conceded.

“Anyways, I don’t know when she’ll be done.” The left maid told Satou.

"If she isn't done before I leave for my world, I'll just have to be re-summoned to handle it when she is done." Sonya said.

“Well, with how horny she is and the caribou acting as if he’s a dog in heat I'd say a few hours today.” The maid on the right estimated.

“Okay, but could you send for me when they are sorted?” Satou requested.

“Sure, Master Satou.” Both maids said in unison, Satou nodded as both he and Sonya walked away.

As Satou and Sonya made their way back towards their rooms, Satou stopped. “Just to confirm, is there anything specific I need to do to allow me to sort out the message for my Token?”

"Most just figure it out on their own. Your message can be anything, but the message, in particular, can change how it works based on how you tell it to work. If you have any sort of energy, mana, or something like that, you can push a little bit of it into your token to get it to start accepting the message."

“And of course I have no mana or mana regen for an entire week, great choice past me.” Satou thought to himself before holding out his badge again, looking at it as he closed his eyes. Taking a breath before a black flame appeared under the badge.

Satou then seemed to smirk before holding the badge forwards and then calmly said. “To those who hold this token, my name is Satou Pendragon. If you require my aid or need someone to talk to, hold this badge out in front of you, call my name and I will heed your call. Just, don’t react too badly to the collars if I bring allies with me.”

After a few seconds, the flame under the token faded away before the token began to glow multiple copies beginning to form in his hand before burning black portals formed around them before each copy disappeared until only two remained, one in each of his hands.

Sonya gives a thumbs up. "Good message. Is that the second one for me?" She asked.

“Might as well be. I don’t know who else would need it anyway.” Satou responded passing the spare token to Sonya. Sonya stored it in her Manipulator and paused upon seeing it create a new inventory tab.

"Oh. I just got a new inventory tab for tokens. Nice." She noted out loud.

“I guess that's better for you than trying to carry them ‘all’ everywhere you go… or finding somewhere to hide them.”

"Yeah. At least a number of displaced get their own little "bag of holding" types of inventories. I bet Link would hate having to carry all these tokens around with him… I do recall there being a token that's a gun." Sonya began to lose herself in random thoughts out loud.

“Why do I get a feeling that one is either Alucard or someone from Psycho-Pass.” Satou responded with a shrug of his shoulders.

"Nah. I believe it was Warhammer, with a bit of Halo mixed in. I forget though. Haven't read the story, really." Sonya said "anyway-" Sonya cuts off when she spots a familiar face approaching.

Satou turned his head to see Sombra dragging in a large cart filled with books and scrolls into the house. She looked up to see Satou and calmly spoke. “Master Satou, here are all the books and recipes you requested.”

“Thank you Sombra.” Satou thanked her as he walked towards the mare as she suddenly began to rub herself up against him before getting scratched behind the ear by Satou as she began to purr almost like she was a kitten.

Sonya hummed. "So she's a girl in this world? And still named Sombra? Funny. I'd have expected her to be called Umbra." Sonya muttered to herself. "Is this… the result of that gender reassignment thing then?"

Sombra didn’t have time to respond though before Sombra’s eyes hazed over before her arms fell to her side before she said in a slow monotonous voice. “What do you require of me, master?”

“Why did you have to say that.” Satou groaned as he pinched the bridge of his nose. The change in Sombra's mental state surprised Sonya. But it also gave her an idea for her own Sombra.

"Hey, I didn't know that would happen. Nobody told me Sombra had a sleeper command."

“I’m more surprised you guessed the phrase as easily as that?”

"Umbra is Sombra's gender-bent name," Sonya answered. "I looked at a lot of pony porn when I was human."

“...Okay, two things, one I had no idea there was a thing, and two I had no idea Sombra was from anything from before I became Satou?”

"Yeah, Sombra is a significant part of Equestrian history. He used to be an iron-fisted ruler that enslaved the Crystal Empire and planned to enslave the entire world. Seeing her in this state, it makes me glad the Caribou got to her."

“I think I should say it’s Dainn who owns her.” Satou added.

"Huh. Well, he's a better king than Sombra was." Sonya noted.

“From what you said, I suppose it could be slightly argued being Dainn only enslaves females, and I’m assuming he went after everyone. At least that's some kind of gender equality… not a good kind but equality all the same.”

"Yeah, Sombra flourished off pain, misery, and fear. I've got him appointed as my chief of war in my world since my Equis kinda got exploded. No point trying to take over the world if there's no longer a world to rule." Sonya looked at Sombra. "So… how do you snap her out of this?"

“I simply order her back to normal.” Satou responded before saying. “Umbra, you're free to go back to normal.”

Sombra didn’t respond before shaking her head before saying. “Master Satou, is there anything else you require from me.”

“I don’t think so, is that everything I requested?”

“It is,” Sombra responded before walking over to the cart before saying. “these are the ones about the laws you need to be aware of and the others are the recipes for those strange potions you wanted… I mean who want a potion to allow you to permanently shrink someone down, or to change your sex for a few hours, no stallion would dare use the second on themselves.”

"Because I'm one kinky pussy," Sonya answered with what could only be described as an OwO face.

“They are for her,” Satou responded, “Seems she has… acquired tastes for things she enjoys.”

“So… she wanted to eat someone I assume, or put them inside her, using that ‘unbirth’ potion to turn some poor soul into her own offspring?” Sombra asked looking at Sonya, “or has she already done that one?”

Sonya chuckled. "No, not yet. I have a lot of fetishes, but I know not everyone shares them. I intend to take these back to my world, where I know a lot more people are willing to enjoy them." Sonya stated.

“Your own world?” Sombra responded in confusion as she looked at Sonya.

Sonya nods. "I'm displaced. I was summoned from an alternate universe where Equis was destroyed. I'll have to go back eventually. I have a god to kill."

“Umm… what I don’t understand,” Sombra responded in confusion.

“Umbra,” Satou replied as Sombra’s arms dropped to her side once again, “Forget everything Sonya said in regards to other worlds.”

“Of course Master,” Sombra responded.

“Good, return to normal,” Satou added as Sombra reverted back shaking her head.

Sonya shrugged. "Guess it's pointless to talk about parallel worlds."

“It is,” Satou responded.

“Well, if that's all, I shall take my leave,” Sombra responded before walking out leaving the house as she closed the door behind her.

Sonya chuckled after she watched Sombra leave. "God, having a sleeper must be fun. I wonder if I should do that to my Sombra…"

“I’m pretty sure there's a mind-control potion in there you could have him drink to change him as you see fit,” Satou responded calmly.

Sonya smiled as she picked the collection of items up, and put them in her Manipulator. She then promptly took them back out. "Alright, everything was added as a Codex to my tool. All of it is now free to use or return as you see fit."

“I’ll keep the stuff. I’m sure half of it could have a non-fetish use,” Satou responded.

Sonya nods and opens her codex to start reading through everything, starting with the laws. "Yeah. I know some kinks have practical uses."

“I’d love to hear what some of your thoughts on that one could be,” Satou responded as he looked to Sonya curiously.

"For vore, you could use it to smuggle people into or out of places, if you shrink them enough. The right parasite can serve as actually good armour too. I kinda forgot the rest, but I'm sure some of them have other uses as well."

“...or using the unbirthing & shrinking ones to plough a barren field so to speak,” Satou muttered.

"Oh yeah. I guess so." Sonya shrugged. "Oh, right, almost forgot. I was gonna give you the blueprints and crafting stations for a modular mech." Sonya opened another menu and started getting some blueprints out of her Manipulator. "Where do you want the Assembly table? It's gonna make noise, so it's best to put it away from bedrooms."

“Okay, one I still have no idea what you're on about, so maybe explain everything about this including what space is needed for everything so I have enough space for everything to be both planned out and to use effectively,” Satou suggested.

Sonya responded by summoning her own mech from her Matter Manipulator. It was only 13 feet tall, including thruster engines, legs, hull, and the two arm weapons, a gravity beam and a laser sword. "I'm talking about mechs this large. The Assembly table is about as wide but only as tall as the legs are. Somewhere like a large basement would be a good place to put it, but if you've got another large, open area to put it, that's fine too." She put her mech back in her manipulator, getting it out of the hallway that was a little too small for it.

Satou rubbed his chin for a second before saying, “I think the basement may be big enough, but we can only look and see.”

Sonya nodded to him before she said, "you lead the way."

After a couple of hours, both Satou & Sonya had filled the basement of the house with everything they needed, while Sonya had explained everything he needed to know about the equipment they had set-up.

"So to summarize, you plug in the manipulator to the crafting console, use it to move the parts to the slotting console, and then use this button on the manipulator to summon your mech." Sonya finished after all the talking.

“Okay, I think I understood all that,” Satou responded as he finished writing out notes of what he had been told. Sonya nodded, and stood back to let him view the blueprints on the part crafting console before he placed his own Matter Manipulator into it to see a table size display, it’s holoprojection shows the left to have a blueprint with the required parts while the right shows the product and what it’s about and below has the ‘Forge’ button. At the very end of both left and right has arrows.

“Okay, so that's how it looks, and it seems to be working,” Satou responded.

Sonya smiled. "I'd advise starting with the least expensive ones." She clicked on each of the tabs, showing off the least expensive, but also the weakest mech parts available. "These will help you at least get used to piloting a mech."

“Maybe something to try once I have my own resources built up,” Satou stated. Sonya nodded, before looking at the door a split second before it opened. The maid from before sticking her head in.

“She’s done, the Caribou is placed in an empty room on the main floor.” The maid told Satou.

Satou then looks at the mare. “Okay, we’ll be up in a second.”

“You might need to know that the caribou is uh… different.” The maid quickly added.

“What do you mean by ‘different?’” Satou asked looking back at the maid hoping to get an answer before she left.

“It’s best you see for yourself.” With that said; the maid left.

“That really doesn’t narrow it down,” Satou muttered to himself before he saw Sonya slot her own manipulator into the Assembly table to show the menu and how she had hers made. It was a simple menu. One tab with six slots for parts, the other tab for refuelling. Sonya's seemed to have a full tank. There was a display on the bottom that showed what types of fuel sources could be used.

She seemed to take a minute checking the console before removing her manipulator before they both left to go where the maid had said they had taken the Caribou to rest.

Once the group reached the room where the Caribou was being kept, they found the caribou on the bed all clean and asleep from exhaustion. But it wasn’t the same caribou as before as it has wider hips and huge breasts, a missing cock and feminine figure also gave them an idea of “her” gender.

Sonya seemed to have expected this as she kneeled down to inspect her. "Good. She's knocked out. That'll make this easier."

“I’m going to have to ask… Why is he a she now? I’m sure when we left him, I mean her, I mean… the poor guy, I mean girl was a… well guy.” Satou asked in confusion as he looked at Sonya, his mind clearly confused by the sight in front of him.

"The other guy did tell us this would happen. He never said when." Sonya pointed out.

“When did he say that?” Satou asked, looking at Sonya in confusion. Sonya recalls Satou wasn't there for it.

"While you were talking privately with Strikes." She answered.

“Of course that's when someone said something.” Satou responded with a shake of his head. “So anyway, what exactly are you going to do with her?”

"Whatever you want me to. Turn her mind back to what it was, make it better, or give it a complete rewrite- that's all up to you. Just tell me what, and I'll do it." She answered.

“Not saying this as a yes… but what do you mean by a complete rewrite?” Satou asked.

"As in, I could essentially write in a completely new mentality. One nothing like his old one or the current one. At your direction of course." Sonya explained.

Satou then turned to look at the unconscious Caribou before looking at her status information to find most of it blank including name. Other sections including a class were noted but the most strange was in her race, which read both Caribou and Demon.

After a couple of seconds he looked back to Sonya before calmly saying. “Would you be able to fix her mind into making her loyal towards me, but beyond that give knowledge on working as a maid maybe keep some of her knowledge on how to fight as well?”

Sonya nods. "Certainly. It'll only take a moment." She closed her eyes for a second before the gem on her forehead glowed. Sonya's face grimaced. "Yikes… I'll need a different gem first." She plucked out the Ruby out of its slot in her forehead, showing a set of electronics underneath. Then she replaced it with a pink gem shortly after. This caused her eyes to turn pink as well. She started again, and this time the Caribou's body reacted. Every muscle tensed, not unlike being filled with electricity, and her eyes shot open. But the eyes were pure white. No Iris or anything, just white. This happened for a minute before the Caribou's eyes closed again, and her body relaxed.

"Done." Sonya announced.

“That's all it took?” Satou responded in surprise.

"The right gemstone augment on my psychic powers can make a big difference. The Ruby is for enhancing psychokinesis, this one helps improve mental programming, sapphires help me create psychic attacks, etcetera." She explained. She switched her forehead gem back out to a Ruby, making her eyes turn red again.

“Okay… how long do you think she’ll be like this then?” Satou asked curiously.

"Passed out? I'd guess another hour." She answered.

“I see.” Satou responded before reaching into his bag pulling out ink, paper and a quill before writing out a note and sticking it on the back of the door as he and Sonya walked out. Sonya headed back to her room after making sure there was nothing else Satou needed from her.

After that, they both walked into their own rooms before Satou closed his door behind him as he turned to find Filo pretending to be asleep on his bed, her face resting on the cushions with her head turned to face the door as Satou saw one of her eyes open looking at him.

Satou didn’t respond to her actions as he walked over to the side of the bed before taking his armour off before lying down next to her and closing her eyes. Seconds later he felt a small body pull itself up against him as he just smiled wrapping an arm around the small child as he heard her quickly fall asleep after a couple of minutes later Satou followed suit.

Chapter 13 (Rewritten)

The sun peeking over the horizon; a resident of a mansion in the Crystal Empire is about to wake up.

In one room, the human half android shifts in her bed groaning from the light of the waking world calls her. Her eyes open weakly to the world around her. She sat up before getting out of bed. “Thank you world for waking me back to this weird land I call pain.” Eliza muttered before heading to the kitchen downstairs.

Pushing the door open to see the architecture of the chandelier hanging over the edge of the railing. Yawning, she walks out as she pushes the door closed, taking the path that’ll lead to the kitchen then the stairs to the front entrance.

“Wonder what crazy things are going to happen today.” Eliza spoke to herself.

After taking a few halls and stairway down Eliza reached the kitchen and started making breakfast for herself. Forgetting that she's only wearing her sleeping clothes: A short white top that covers most of herself except for her under cleavage and stomach, knee-long grey shorts and high white socks.

A long silent yawn left her lips. ‘Scrambled eggs and bacon with a side of crystal berry juice.’ She thought while resuming her cooking.

An hour later; Eliza finished her breakfast that helped her wake up. She stretched her arms up with a sigh of relief before taking her dish and glass to the sink and starting washing them. At this moment Marble Stone walked in with a smile on her face. Eliza turned her sight on her and the maid gave a bow. “Good morning Mistress Eliza.”

“Good morning Marble. Are you ready for the day ahead?” Eliza asked her new student and personal maid who nodded.

“Of course madam!”

“Can you wake our guest and Satou.” Marble nods went to fetch them as Eliza finishes cleaning her dishes only to get a new set of food that's being prepared.

Sonya came into the room minutes later, yawning tiredly. "Nnf. Guess that's what I get for over-sleeping." She commented to herself as she took a brush out of her matter manipulator and began brushing her wild bedraggled fur.

“Morning Sonya.” Eliza greeted the feline. “How's your sleep? Hope you didn’t lay on your stomach.”

"I slept a little too long. Otherwise, I slept fine. Had a long talk with the Spirit of Harmony in my soul." Sonya answered.

“Satou mentioned it before.” Eliza reached to grab some plates then placed them on the table for two, giving Sonya view of her appearance. Sonya raised an eyebrow.

"Interesting PJs." She commented.

“Thanks.” Eliza turned back to the kitchen to finish the food. Sonya waited patiently as she watched her cook. She was beginning to miss cooking for herself.

A moment later Eliza brought Sonya her food and crystal berry juice before returning to her cooking. Eliza sighs as time passes, not seeing Filo or Satou. So she decided to shout out of the kitchen. “Filo, come down here right now missy or no breakfast for you!”

Both heard loud thuds echoing through the building before Filo pushed her way through the door in her bird form, seemingly struggling to get through.

“Dear, turn back to your human form.” Eliza said helpfully.

“Umm… okay.” Filo responded before she was surrounded by what looked to be white smoke before reverting to her human form. “Better?”

“That’s better, now I don’t want you to turn into your bird form inside the building. Understand?” Eliza asked.

Filo simply crossed her arms. “I’ll only stop if master orders me to.”

Eliza stopped, turning around to face her with her own crossed arms. “Missy, I don’t care what Satou says or not, stay in your human form while inside. You already saw one reason when you try to get in the kitchen.”

“But I prefer being a bird than a human. At least as a bird, I get less strange looks.” Filo responded in annoyance as she just stood at the door with arms still crossed.

“We can discuss this later after when Satou gets here and finishes his breakfast, for now, stay in human form.” Eliza sternly said, then went back to cooking.

“You would think he’d be here already.” Filo responded as she sat down beside Sonya.

“He would have been but I think he needs to get his body working sort-of speak.” Eliza replied. “So what would you want to eat?”

Filo seemed to rub her chin for a second before saying. “Is a bowl of master cum available?”

“No.” Eliza said with a sigh.

“Why not?” Filo wined in annoyance.

“We don’t serve cum is why.” Eliza spoke back calmly.

“But why? Is that not what we are supposed to eat?” Filo asked, confusion clear on her face. “That's what Nathen and all the caribou kept telling me I was supposed to eat.”

“They are wrong dear.” Eliza responded as she walked over to Filo and knelt down to see eye-to-eye. “We eat regular food like everyone else. We don’t do that here where those can be free from the caribou’s religion. So no, we don’t serve cum here.”

“And if it’s what someone wants?” Filo asked.

“To me, you're young despite your bird form. So no, no cum for you.”

“That's not fair!” Filo moaned in annoyance as she glared at Eliza.

"Hey, look at it this way. At least you aren't being force-fed literal shit." Sonya spoke up. "Now be grateful for what you get. Nobody likes a spoiled brat, so don't act like one."

“Sonya, that’s not nice. Apologise.” Eliza responded as she stared at the feline.

Sonya sighed. "What part's not nice? The part where I dispense the advice every good parent gives?"

“That was more of a wrong message to say to a child Sonya. And telling her what might have been isn’t helping either.” Eliza said.

"...If that's what you think, my parents would call you a pansy." Sonya said before filling her mouth with food. After swallowing her bite, she continued. "If a kid doesn't appreciate what they get, show them worse alternatives. If they act spoiled, well… certain actions demand certain consequences."

Eliza sighed. “Anyways.” She looks at Filo. “Sorry but no cum. Anything else besides that?”

“I don’t know… that's all I’ve ever had for three years… I don’t even know what else there is that I can eat.” Filo responded as she seemed to begin to fidget slightly.

“Then I’ll make something for you then.” Eliza said as she turned and started working on Filo’s food and Satou.

Sonya quietly finished before getting up with her plate and taking it to the sink to wash it herself.

A few minutes later Eliza walked back to the table and placed a plate with hashbrown, two pancakes, a cut boiled carrots and crystal berry juice in front of Filo. “Here you go.”

Filo looked at the food in front of her for a second before reaching for one of the hashbrowns placing it in her mouth chewing it before suddenly pausing placing a hand over her mouth before running over to a nearby bin and suddenly began vomiting violently into it.

‘Note to self, Filo may not like hash browns.’ Eliza thought as she waited for her to finish being sick.

After a minute Filo backed away from the bin looking at Eliza apologetically. “I’m sorry.”

“It’s alright, not everyone likes the same food. Please try the rest, if they aren’t to your liking then I’ll try something different and hope it’ll be to your liking.” Eliza reassured her.

Filo simply nodded her head before walking back to the table trying something else from the table, only for the same thing to happen with each thing she tried. This continued until she had tried everything before she dropped to the floor, curled up into a ball and started crying. Eliza sat beside her and tried to comfort her as best she could.

“I think we should just wait for Satou, he might know what to do.” Eliza said, low and calm as best she could.

Sonya passed them, before looking down at Filo. "You know, birds generally enjoy seeds." She opens her inventory and browses through her food tab. After some looking, she pulls out a large seed. "Here's something from the avians. They call it Eggshoot. Let's see if this works." She said, leaning down to offer it.

“If she was in her bird form but if you recall I told her not to turn into it inside the house.” Eliza reminded her.

"Yeah yeah. It's not just for birds. Anyone can eat it." Sonya shot back a bit snappily.

“Fine but I’m blaming you for any side effects.” Eliza said sternly as she brushed Filo’s back.

"It won't," Sonya replied. "I hope."

Filo then slowly took the seed, before nervously placing it in her mouth as she slowly chewed it, before pausing as tears formed in her eyes before she suddenly turned to the bin again and started being sick again.

Sonya sighs. "Damn. Something's wrong then if all she can eat is cum." She says. "I'm gonna go get Satou. Maybe he knows what's up." She says before turning and heading for Satou's room. "He better not be summoned off to another displaced world…" Sonya muttered, thinking of several reasons Satou wouldn't be up yet.

Eliza gently rubs Filo’s back to comfort her to some degree. “I knew we should have waited. I’m sorry if it’s bad.”

Filo looked up for a second before weakly saying. “I-I’m sorry I wasted the food you made me.” Before she went back to being sick again.

Eliza shook her head. “It’s alright, no need for apologies. But it’s nice for you to say.” She said as she continued to comfort her.

“Maybe all I can eat is what you forbid?” Filo said looking up at Eliza for a second before going back over the bin as she began to sound like she was going to puke once again.

“Is cum the only thing you ate?” Eliza asked the young child.

“For the last three years… yes, I’ve only had that either from my old owner, from the guards or in dog bowls I was given by them.”

“I hope Satou has a solution, if not then I’ll have to find a way.” Eliza muttered.

“And if the only thing I end up being able to keep down is cum?” Filo asked.

“If we ran out of options then yes.” Eliza said worriedly.

“I’m sorry for causing you all so much trouble.” Filo responded sadly as she started gagging again, tears forming in her eyes. Eliza moved to get something, seconds later she came back with clean water in a safe cup.

“Here, it’ll at least help clean out the taste.” Eliza suggested as she held out the cup of water to Filo.

Filo slowly took the cup before washing the water around her mouth before spitting the water into the bin before taking another mouthful as she gulped the water down quickly.

Meanwhile, Sonya soon reached Satou's door and knocked on it urgently. "Hey, Satou. Are you there? We have a situation with Filo."

Door opens up to find Satou standing on the other side, a towel around his waist as he looks at Sonya and says. “What has she done now? I hope she hasn’t turned into a bird and smashed through a wall.”

"Her body is rejecting everything we've tried to feed her. We're worried cum is the only thing she can eat." Sonya told him.

Satou paused for a second before sighing in realization. “That explains the note Dainn gave me.”

"Note?" She asked with a raised eyebrow. "What note? Let me see."

“One second...” Satou responded walking back into his room before walking out with a piece of parchment in his hand. He said as he passed her the parchment. “At the time; I couldn’t understand what he meant in the third paragraph on the third and fourth lines, but it makes sense now.”

Sonya sighed as she read over it. "Damn. Guess we were right… Eliza isn't going to be happy." She passed the document back.

“I can bet.” Satou responded. “It's a shame for Filo, I have no idea how her body could be like that. But I better take a proper look at all of that section when I get a chance.”

"Alright. In the meantime, Eliza has breakfast ready for you as well and it's getting cold. I'll go let them know about that issue." Sonya says. She turns on her paw and starts heading back to the dining room.

“Yeah… tell her I’ll be a few minutes more.” Satou responded calmly as he looked at Sonya.

"Alright." She called back as she rounded a corner. She soon returned to the dining room. Looking directly at Eliza, she spoke up. "Yeah, there's no going around it. She needs cum.”

Eliza sighs at this. “I was afraid of that.”

“So… where does this put me,” Filo asked as she looked at Eliza nervously.

“As I said Satou might find a way. But for now, we will give you cum but not from the main source.” Eliza said in a guessing tone.

“But where are we going to get it from then?” Filo asked nervously.

Eliza didn’t say as she herself doesn’t know.

"Can't we order it from the Caribou? It'd make sense if they had some kind of farm somewhere where they hook up purple collar males to machines and milk them for cum. They could bottle and sell that." Sonya suggests.

Eliza didn’t answer as she gave Filo one more comforting pat before getting back to cooking.

After a couple of minutes, Satou walked into the kitchen and spoke up to let others know. “I’m sorry I’m so late coming down, a few things happened that I needed to check and sort out.”

Sonya looked at him curiously but didn't say anything about it. "Well, I think I'm just about ready to go home. I just need to sort out one last thing with you, Satou. And it involves my world."

“Why am I worried about that one?” Satou unease but decide to change the question with; “What is it you need to talk with me about?” as he sat down at the table near Sonya.

"Well, I was hoping you could help me manage a problem that's popped up. My superior, Esther Bright tells me that there's been an incident at a mine. She said the last communication from it were screams regarding an Erchius horror. I'm expecting Erchius based mutations in an overrun mine, with poor conditions caused by the Lethia Corporation not spending enough on essential safety gear." Sonya said.

“And you think I can help with that how?” Satou asked as he looked at Sonya curiously.

"Well, if you can fight off a couple dozen champions that can actually think and strategize, I think you can take on irradiated mutants that can't and only attack with irradiated vomit." Sonya replied. "Whereas I have no combat experience whatsoever. My Sombra tells me I need to try and get other displaced to help me out on missions since I might die doing them alone."

“You do realise you will sometimes need to handle them alone… Do you really expect this one to be that hard?”

"...Truth be told, Sombra and Shining Armor are the best fighters in my world. They've already given it a try, and even they had a hard time beating the first enemy. They came back with several radiation burns. If they couldn't do it, what kind of chance would I have?" Sonya answered. "Either I bring in backup, or I get combat training the two unicorns can't give me."

“...or both.” Satou added with a sigh. “When is this mission?”

"Any day I decide to take it, really. Shining already confirmed there are no survivors. I just need to clear it out before anything in there gets out. And as long as I'm not in my world, time won't move there." Sonya answered. "I've made sure of that."

“That's lucky I guess.” Satou said calmly.

“I wouldn’t count on it.” Eliza said, not looking away from cooking.

"The way tokens interpret their contracts, I would. I did enough research on how the contracts work before I was Displaced to believe in how mine works. Sure, I won't actually know for sure till I get back, but I believe I know my contract." Sonya said confidently.

“That’s not what I meant.” Eliza stopped to turn to Sonya. “Is your world following the same as here? Does it have game mechanics?” She restated.

"Well… somewhat." Sonya opens her equipment menu via the matter manipulator, showing off the armour slots filled with iron armour, and her vanity slots filled with what she's wearing. "The equip menu and armour seems to follow the same rules as the ones from the game Starbound. And there's also the tech slots. I doubt I'd be able to double jump or perform short-range blinks if these didn't operate on game mechanics." She closes it, putting her manipulator away. "But it probably doesn't follow the exact same rules."

“Satou, show her your menu set and states. Sonya, I want you to tell us what you have and what you don’t have in comparison.” Eliza directed.

Satou shrugged his shoulders at this before making his menu visible to Sonya then turning it towards her. “Ours shows the basic information for anyone I look at, for example, I could look at Filo and see her name, race, class, subclass, current weapons & armour along with if any other relevant info on them. I can also see my skills, spells and any other things I own.”

"I see… I can see most of that using my Matter Manipulator. Seems like my menus and stuff like that are all put in this tool. But I don't have an Exp bar or level up system. My stats can only grow through the use of Armor and Augment Plug ins." Sonya replied. "As well, I don't get a Class system. Just equipment."

Eliza nods. “That’ll be a problem for Satou cause his levels are the reason he gets the stats to increase, without it he would be useless. With or without his equipment, he has no real combat training.” She explained.

“Also doesn’t help any experience and knowledge I do have on using things I get instantly as I upgrade that skill.” Satou muttered to himself.

"You should know that going to another world does not inhibit your game mechanics. Never has in any instance I've seen. It doesn't matter if you go to a Fairy Tale world, a zombie apocalypse world, or even a Fortnite world, your core mechanics will always stay in effect. Case in point, I shouldn't be able to use my Distortion Sphere tech outside of my world if my core mechanics didn't stay with me. And yet, I used it already in this world."

“The thing you did with the token or your matter manipulator?” Eliza asked the feline.

"It's a tech implant in my body. Not in my manipulator." Sonya answered. To demonstrate, she activated the tech to transform into a perfect sphere right then and there in a brief rush of light. It rolls off the chair and around the floor for a bit, reminiscent of Samus Aran's morph ball. Then she deactivated it to return to her original form.

Eliza blink before facepalming. ‘Why didn’t she do that in the cave!’ She looks back to Sonya. “Okay, did it change to fit into this world mechanic?”

"Nope. Not as far as I'm aware. It still costs a quarter of my energy tank, and that still recharges the same way as it did in my world." Sonya replied.

“Does it have a cooldown time?”

"Only when I run out of Energy. Then I have to wait 3 seconds for my energy to recharge. Same as when I spend all my energy using a weapon's secondary skill or firing a gun. The Energy Tank makes sure I only run out of ammo when I run out of energy, so good trigger discipline can give me basically unlimited ammo." She explains.

Eliza nod. “My stats are simple and not focus on level purpose despite me having that mechanic. So I can fit in this world's mechanics easily.” Then return to the food while still listening in.

Sonya shrugged. "Eh. My world will probably allow pretty much any mechanics." She states.

Eliza grabbed and brought the food and drink over and placed it in front of Satou, of which the food was the same as the dish that Filo had been given.

Satou looked to Eliza with a smile before saying; “Thank you,” before he began to eat. That got a smile from the half android women.

After Satou had finished his meal he smiled towards Eliza as he had found that Filo had walked up to him and had pulled a chair up next to him as she lay down resting her head up against his leg as she rubbed up against him.

Sonya decided to leave the two alone. Seeing as Filo needed fresh cum as the contract from Dainn said, she suspected it would be rude to stay and watch Filo suck Satou off. And since it was an immediate concern that Filo needed to eat… Well, it didn't take starship science to see where this was going to go. 'To quote the internet, I've seen enough hentai to know where this is going.' Sonya thought to herself as she made her exit quietly. She decided now was a good time to go look over the codexes she got the other day.

She jumped when a loud voice of Eliza shouted. “NOT IN THE KITCHEN!!”

“I’m sorry… but what do you even think I’m doing?” Satou asked. Eliza points at how Filo is acting.

“I don’t know what she’s doing but ‘if’ she's going to drink cum then she should do that somewhere private.”

“I don’t think that was something I was planning.” Satou responded as he looked down at Filo who shook her head at him.

“Excuse me for thinking that after she said the first thing she wanted to eat was cum.” Eliza said with a frown.

“Considering that's all she seems to be able to keep down and the fact she's only resting her head against the side of my…” Satou paused in realization of where his words were going. “Okay, I see your point.” Eliza nods before heading out.

“I’ll be getting Marble to cook for the others while I check on the other workers.” And that Eliza walked out of sight.

Satou looks back down to Filo. She had moved her head so it was resting her head between his legs. Raising his head and pinching the bridge of his nose before muttering. “Okay… this needs sorting… and I really don’t want to do it.”

Filo seemed to shift again; causing Satou to look down as he now saw her rubbing her face against his crotch. “Okay first time for everything.” He tells himself before he says. “Filo.”

“Yes, master?” Filo responded instantly as she looked up at him.

“Come with me.” Satou responded as he looked at her before standing up as Filo climbed off her chair and stood beside him before they both left the kitchen and walked upstairs.

A minute later they both reached Satou’s room, both walked inside and Satou locked the door from their side, leaving the key in the door lock.

He nervously turned back around to find Filo looking less at him and more towards his crotch as he said nervously. “Well… I guess I need to do this eventually.”

“You sure master? Do you even know how to do this?” Filo asked as she walked towards Satou.

“Ummm... “ Satou responded nervously.

Filo almost seemed to smile as she walked up to him, seeming to sway her hips as she did. “Then I’ll take the lead, and don’t worry, I only want my feed, I don’t want any little kids of my own… yet.”

“Why do I get the feeling that should be a red flag?” Satou responded.

“Maybe it should be crimson.” Filo responded as she licked her lips before saying. “It’ll be best to take your clothes off then either sit on the edge of the bed or lie down on it, I’ll handle the rest and make sure you feel good, especially if this is your first time with a woman.”

“Filo… you are still a kid.”

“No, I’m not! I’m an adult!” Filo shouted back.

“Then stop acting like a spoiled brat! From the way you act I would say at the best you’d be at most a 19-year old whose parents gave her everything she ever wanted in life.”

“That's not true!” Filo shouted, “I was 24!”

“That doesn’t make it any better… Now I can say that you were a grown woman who acts like a spoiled brat.” Satou responded as he removed his jacket and shirt, placing them over a nearby chair.

“I’m not a brat!”

“But you do admit you are spoilt?” Satou responded with a smirk.

“No, I don’t!” Filo shouted back before suddenly appearing in front of Satou as she pushed him backwards onto the bed before she reached down and started trying to take off Satou’s trousers.

“Need help down there?”

“No I’m fine!” Filo said as she seemed to be having a hard time with the buttons.

“Really?”

“Yes!” Filo responded before releasing the button and pulling Satou’s trousers off before saying, “Finally, I can eat!” as she slowly leaned her mouth to his cock.

“Filo, don’t rush yourself.” Satou responded calmly only to hear what sounded like a growl coming from the girl as she forced herself down taking his entire length in one push before quickly coming back repeating the motion as quickly as she could.

Satou then placed a hand on the back of her head slowly rubbing it as Filo held herself tightly against his crotch seeming to moan as she moved back. This continued for a couple of minutes with Satou having looped his leg around her head holding her in place as she continued grinding her face up against him before eventually began filling her stomach with his cum as Filo continuously moaned keeping herself against him tightly.

After what felt like a few minutes the flow began to slow before Satou slowly removed his legs from around her head as she slowly pulled back resting her head on his chest as she looked up at Satou, her mind seemingly elsewhere as he began rubbing her head against him affectionately again.

“Feeling better?”

“Yes master.” Filo responded slowly as Satou wrapped an arm around her. “Your slave is fed, and I will behave.”

“Filo… you're not going to make this feral madness thing a daily occurrence are you?”

“No… I’ll just get my fill in the morning when we wake up, and at night before we go to bed,” Filo responded, looking at him now having crawled up and resting her head under his chin.

“As long as you behave.” Satou responded with a smile.

“Sure,” Filo responded before adding, “Master?”

“Yes.”

“Next time… could some of the others join us so we all please you?”

“We’ll see Filo. We’ll see,” Satou responded as he rubbed the back of her head.

Sonya knocked on the door to get their attention. "Hey, I'm headed out to the store. I doubt you want to keep doing that all the time, so I'm gonna buy a couple of gallons for Filo." She called through the door.

“You sure you don’t mind doing that for us?” Satou asked.

She chuckles. "Hey, I'm used to doing it for my parents and in Starbound Fetch Quests. It'll be no problem." Sonya replied.

Satou paused for a second before he said as he stood up walking over to his clothing and began putting it back on. “If you’ll wait a few minutes, me and Filo will join you. We can use the cart to transport anything we buy.”

"Sounds good. I'll wait for you." Sonya says.

“Okay, if you could ask Eliza to get someone to help get the cart out, we’ll be out to you soon.”

Sonya calls back in acknowledgement, before making her way to Eliza. She soon found Eliza fixing the cart grumbling to herself.

Sonya spoke up to her. "You know, the problem with psychic immunity is that I can't find you when I need you. Something wrong with the cart?"

Eliza tightened the wooden wheel. “One monster hit the wheels, at first it was ignorable but I was sick of seeing it wiggling along the road so I decided to fix the damn thing.”

"I see. Satou asked me to see about getting the cart ready to go though. I decided to go shopping for Filo." Sonya told her.

“Well that’s a problem, I got it fixed but Sapphire and Sunny are too tired to ride… Don’t know if we have any who can pull a cart without ruining their schedules.” Eliza responded as she wiped her somewhat greasy hands onto a cloth.

"How about a certain cat with no schedule? And psychokinesis to help things along?" Sonya hinted. Though she paused for a second to wonder how anyone's hands get greasy when they're handling a wooden cart. You'd expect splinters instead.

“That sounds easy but why do you need the cart at all?” Eliza asked as she tested the cart by pulling from the front and was satisfied that the wheel is moving properly.

Sonya shrugged. "Satou said so. Ask him." She replied.

“I think I will.” Eliza walked to the cart right side as she checked the other wheel just in case it needed fixing as well. Luckily it was in good condition. Nodding her head, she walked to the back and sat at the edge of the cart.

After a couple of minutes, Satou walked out the house with Filo following close behind. He walked towards the cart. “I’m sorry I took so long.” Satou said apologetically.

Sonya just looked at him with a neutral expression. "If we don't actually need the cart to carry two gallons of cum, we can just head out without it." She told him.

“Honestly, I thought it was best we take it with us, in case we get anything else while we are out.” Satou admitted. At this moment Eliza went back to the house.

"As if I can't just use psychokinesis to lift all of it." Sonya said with a cocky grin.

“As much as I don’t doubt that you could, I wouldn’t want to put all that on just you.”

"Please. I've done more intense things, like lifting my starship. Besides, if you don't use me as I'm offering, I'll probably just go back to idly masturbating." Sonya told him.

“I suppose, but I kinda don’t want to take advantage of you. You are a guest here after all.”

"Take advantage? You do realize that's only negative if you use a service from someone that doesn't want to provide it, right? Now don't act like a humble dumbass and let me help." Sonya ordered.

“I thought being a humble dumbass, was one of my redeeming qualities.” Satou responded with a smirk.

Sonya rolled her eyes with a grin. "Whatever. I'd just like to be able to help someone without them acting like it's a big deal."

“From what you told me, isn’t that your job.” Satou pointed out before getting back to the subject. “So. Do you want to walk instead?”

Sonya chuckled. "Yeah. Besides, I still need to train a little and exercise before I go back and destroy the Erchius Mutations. Assuming that mission goes the same way as it does in the games anyway."

“And how does it go?” Filo asked.

"Diving deep into a space mine to smash up an Erchius crystal with an Eldritch horror living inside it. There should be a mining laser set up down where the Eldritch thing is that I can use to take it out, but if it's not there, then I'll have a lot of Death Laser Dodging to do." Sonya recalled.

“Okay, well I guess we should start moving then.” Satou responded. Sonya nods and heads outside with them.

"Which way to the store then?" She asked.

“It’s a bit of a walk… annoyingly the best place I know of is on the other side of the empire.” Satou responded calmly.

Sonya shrugged. "Eh. I've walked a circle across an entire planet. How big could the Empire be compared to that?"

“Well, unlike you I’ve not actually travelled much so I can’t really comment on that one.” Satou admitted. Sonya chuckled, and let Satou lead the way.

“Umm… Master,” Filo said nervously as Satou stopped walking and turned to look at her. “I could give us all a ride there.”

"Ooh. Sounds good to me." Sonya put in her vote.

“You sure you want to carry us both?” Satou asked as he looked at Filo, but didn’t get an answer as she quickly turned into her bird form standing next to both him and Sonya. “I take that as a yes.”

It was then that Filo lowered herself so both Satou and Sonya could climb onto her back as Satou did so, followed by Sonya before Filo suddenly turned and ran off as Satou directed her where to go.

It took a while to find a place that has gallons of cum, had to ask a few caribou’s on where to find any and was told to look for a stall in front of a pet shop building.

“I swear it should have been easier than it was.” Satou responded as he climbed off Filo’s back again.

Sonya chuckled. "Hey, at least we got here in time for lunch. Maybe Filo can have lunch before we head back with it all?" She suggested as she hopped off.

“You are way too into the idea of that.” Satou responded looking at Sonya.

"Hey, I might be a slut half the time, but I care that people get fed. If it's all Filo can have, I'll be at least glad she gets something." Sonya replied.

“Hey I got plenty earlier.” Filo responded, reverting to her human form before jumping up and wrapping her arms around Satou’s neck.

"Okay then." Sonya stepped aside and let Satou go first. He walked into the store and Sonya followed close behind him.

A couple of minutes later the group walked back out the store carrying what looked to be 3 milk jugs filled with a white liquid that could easily be mistaken for thick milk. Sonya went ahead and started levitating them in a telekinetic grasp. "Heh. Is it weird that my mind lifts things better than my arms? I haven't stopped to appreciate the novelty of it."

“I wouldn’t know if it does or not considering I can levitate things with my mind.”

"Fair." Sonya replied. "Let's go back then, shall we?"

“I guess.” Satou responded as Filo transformed back into her bird form before Satou and Sonya climbed onto her back then rode back to the mansion as Satou said. “Is there anything else you need to ask me about?”

"Yeah… when can I start training?" Sonya asked. "I was hoping we could talk about that at some point."

“I suppose it depends on what you specifically want training in.” Satou stated.

"Well, I've got a feeling I'll need legitimate weapon training. I can't rely on psychic powers all the time. Especially if I land in a Pokemon world at some point since Dark types are immune to any and all psychic abilities. And who knows how many others will be." Sonya stated. "Any weapon will do, but I'd prefer light ones."

“I can’t really work out what to teach you till I specifically what weapon type you would prefer to learn how to wield.” Satou admitted. “And I mean specifically, a sword, spear, knife and other things like that.”

She sighed. "Hard to choose between Sword and Shield, or dual-wielding daggers." She replied.

“Well, we could try both and see what works best for you?” Satou suggested.

"Sounds fair," Sonya replied. "Let's go with that."

“I might as well ask which you want to start with?” Satou responded as he saw the mansion in the distance.

"Let's start with the S&S. Figure that will take the most training." Sonya replied.

“I suppose it could, it would depend on how fast of a learner you are.” Satou responded as they got closer to the house.

"Well, I've already studied and tried replicating Link's techniques from the Twilight Princess title. But I was limited by a complete lack of ability to stay active. But now…" She chuckled as she leapt off Filo early. The fall wasn't too harsh, only a 5 story drop. But upon landing, Sonya stood up and looked back at Satou, unscathed. She did end up looking rather uncomfortable, but nonetheless unharmed as she holds her distended belly.

“Umm… are you sure that was a good idea?” Shade asked as he climbed off Filo’s back and stepped beside Sonya. “You didn’t hurt yourself did you?”

"I'm fine. Just a bit of strain. I keep forgetting to worry about the eggs." Sonya said, trying to assuage the concerns.

“Still, maybe we should get you checked out just in case you did yourself or your eggs any problems. That did look like it put some strain on you after you stood back up.”

Sonya nods with a sigh. "Fair enough." Sonya takes out her Matter Manipulator, setting it to scan mode as she runs it over herself. The scanner beeped.

"Minor issue detected: Exhaustion, Tier 1. Curable by: Rest, Greater Restoration, High Calorie Intake. Effects include: Sluggish movement, Reduced mental capacity."

"...Oh." Sonya was a little slow to respond to that. "That's not good…"

“Maybe scrap that training altogether and get you to someone who can sort you something to eat… or get to a bed.” Satou suggested.

"Um… yeah. I should probably fix up a pop tart or something…" Sonya said weakly. She yawns as well. "Just lead the way I guess."

“Okay, different plan.” Satou responded as he picked Sonya up in his arms and carried her into the house. “Lets see if we can find anyone to sort you something to eat?”

"Alright. Favorite food is pastries." She quickly informs, not really resisting the embrace.

While walking back to the mansion, Satou saw Eliza heading in as well. Though he can’t tell if it’s the copy or not, that didn’t stop him from heading over to her and spoke up for her to notice. “Eliza, can I bother you for a few minutes?”

The half android girl stops to face them. “Yes. What is it?”

“I don’t know if you're free to help with this. But a curtain someone’s ended up exhausting herself. I was wondering if you had anyone near the kitchens who could sort her something to eat?”

“Is there any preferred food she wants?” Eliza asks.

"Paaaastriiiiieeessss…" Sonya moans hungrily.

“I’ll get to it then.” With that she heads inside to get some food for the pregnant cat girl.

"...Satou? I feel heartbeats."

“Well… You did say you were filled with eggs… So either they are hatching inside of you or you're feeling them inside the eggs due to your powers.” Satou suggested.

"...Probably powers. I dunno. God, I feel so… Delirious right now. Maybe I should… go home. Wait for the eggs to hatch…"

“I’m pretty sure that those others on your ship would be pretty worried if you came back in your current state… and with how your body is acting...” Satou pointed out as he slowly rubbed the back of her neck.

"Ah, fair. I'll recover first. Then head home." Sonya submitted.

“That's probably for the best.” Satou agreed as he carried her into the kitchen. “Besides… it’s not that bad carrying someone who’s acting like one of my servants.” Satou added before they entered the kitchen and he looked at Eliza before calmly asking her. “How’s it going in here?”

“Well it’s hard to know which pastries she's into so it's difficult.” Eliza answer.

Sonya chuckled. "As long as it's not bitter. I hate bitter. Toaster pastries are great, but I also like cheesecake, regular cake, even red velvet… it's all great stuff." Sonya was in the ramble phase of delirium.

“Then a medium size cake; it is then.” After saying the; Eliza starts working on the cake. The half-android stops as an idea pops into her head, walking over to the food shelf and pulling out a chip bag called ‘Crystal Drizzle’ and giving it to Sonya. “Here, something to snack on while you wait.”

She blinks, but shrugs and starts to *noms* at the crystal chips. Oddly they taste like regular chips.

About an hour later and getting a plate, the medium cake is done. Bringing it to the table, Eliza sighs in relief. “It’s done.” Placing the plated cake in front of Sonya. “Please enjoy.”

Sonya grins as she ravenously digs in. Even as her fur gets coated in icing, she licks it clean just like a regular cat.

"Exhaustion effect cleansed." The manipulator chimed.

"Oh. Nice. And now my mind is running at max again." Sonya smiled.

“So I guess that means that you're all but done here?” Satou checked.

Sonya sighs as she leans back in her chair. A paw rests on her distended belly. "...Yeah. I might as well head back. Still wanna set up a planet with these things."

“Why do I think that it would be a bad idea?” Satou muttered to himself.

"It probably is, but I'll find SOMEONE to set up a safe facility there." Sonya replies. "Preferably someone less biased on fetishes than I am."

“I’d be scared if there wasn’t someone like that in your world. It shouldn’t be that much of a challenge to find one.”

"True. Honestly, Applejack and Twilight could probably get it done. That, or my Cadence. I dunno. Maybe it's a bit of a stretch to assume they'd be okay with these things to begin with…" Doubts began to set in on Sonya.

“I don’t really know much about any of them so I’ll take your word on that one.” Satou responded with a nod of his head.

"We'll see when I get back. Speaking of which, ready to send me off?" Sonya asked, setting aside her doubts for now.

“If you are ready to leave then I am ready… although is there anything else you want from us before we leave? I feel like we have only given you more things to deal with that anything useful.” Satou admitted.

Sonya pauses as she recalls one thing she wanted but never got. "Oh yeah. I wanted to research those crystals. The crystal cocks?"

Eliza; hearing this; spoke up. “Why do you want one?”

"Two reasons. Research, and kinks." Sonya responds, straightforward, simple, and honestly.

“I don’t think you’ll find any in the frozen north or anywhere for that matter. By the way they are made; they were hand made by the looks of it.” Eliza recites her past observation.

"Then I'll settle for a later communication detailing the way it's made so I can alter it to better fit my desires." Sonya said with a shrug. "You guys should be able to use the communication network on the Manipulator even between dimensions."

“That’s if Satou remembers to do that.” Eliza jokes.

“You know, I’m not that forgetful.” Satou responded as he rolled his eyes.

“Eh. Anyways; I guess that’s all?” Eliza asked Sonya, wanting to make sure if there’s anything else.

"Yeah. That's all." Sonya nods, readying herself for departure.

“So… How do we go about sending you home?” Satou asked as he looked at Sonya curiously.

"Simply tell me our contract is complete. The command will send me home." Sonya answers.

“In that case. Sonya our contract is complete.” Satou responded with a smile, as he held his hand out to her. She returns the gesture in kind before her body is consumed in a red beam of light that fires itself skyward, phasing through all forms of material.

“Why do I have a feeling that will have caused chaos outside?” Satou said as he looked at Eliza who shrugged.

Chapter 14 (Rewritten)

Something has gone wrong. We don't seem to have an archived copy of that chapter.

Chapter 15 (Rewritten)

Frostine made her way down the right side of one of the first-floor hallways. Heading for the medical room, wanting to check up on her subject's condition.

It was during this that Frostine had spent her time thinking about everything that had transpired. The destruction of her home, her entire race enslaved and everything that has happened since she had met Satou.

During her recollection, she had arrived at the end of the hallway. Door to the medical room has a red crystal cross emblem.

Frostine gave a short pause, taking a slow breath before opening the door.

The room is rectangular, two individual rows of beds being separated by curtains for each bed that hangs from a railing on the ceiling. To the far left where Frostine entered are a few cabinets and a work table, just three feet away from the workbench and 16 feet away from her is a single; soft table.

She spots four open curtain beds having her race sitting or laying down with Marble Stone talking to them.

“Now please avoid agitating those injuries and you’ll be in full health within a week.” Marble calmly said before looking over a clipboard.

“You better pass that onto King Satou.” One of the Lizardman said calmly.

“I can’t do that sir. That’s not my job.” She said, turning to look at the one that spoke.

“Then what is it?” Same Lizardman asked.

“I work for Miss Eliza as her assistant and maid. We don’t have an actual doctor here, so they chose me since I have some experience in medical skills.”

“You’d think that he would have hired a real doctor to look after everyone.” Another one of the Lizardmen remarked.

“Hmm, I’ll ask Eliza that when I get the chance.”

The Lizardman just rolled his eyes at her. “I just don’t understand why you wouldn’t relay it to our king immediately.”

Marble raises an eyebrow in confusion. “Why should I be?”

“Is he not the owner of both the house and everyone in it?” The Lizardman question back.

It was then that Frostine interjected, getting everyone's attention. “Well he may own this place, but he doesn’t make any claim to anyone in the house as his possession.”

All lizardmens; hearing Frostines' voices, drop to one knee and lower their heads, with one saying. “Our queen. We are glad to see you are unharm.”

Frostine looked at each of the four lizardmen before shaking her head. “Why are you bowing to me? You must know that I am no longer the leader of our people. I lost to Satou, he leads us all now.” She said.

“Surely you jest my queen? He is not even a Lizardmen, he does not even know our ways.”

“I agree with Garret, your highness. We can’t just let any creature rule our kind.” Another lizardman said.

Frostine's mind reels to a halt at the name, looking towards the Lizardman known as “Garret”. “Wait… Garret… as in, Captain Garret?”

“Yes, my queen. I’m glad to see that you can remember me.”

“Well, it is hard to forget my parent’s captain of the guard.” Frostine remarked then adds. “This may be a sore subject. But what happened when they attacked our home… What happened to my father?”

Garret went quiet for a moment, looking at the other lizardmen who tried looking away from Frostine, clearly not wanting to answer her question.

Captain Garret took a breath before nervously answering his princess. “While our home was attacked; I was with your father and mother in the main room along with everyone else here and four others. Suddenly a black smog filled the room and one by one we all collapsed to the ground, we couldn’t move our bodies. When the smoke cleared up, the doors opened and a small army of caribou’s forced their way into the room and tied everyone up except your mother and father. Then that caribou leader came in, walked all the way up to your parents and threw your father to the foot of his throne. That caribou sat on our king's throne, placing his hooves against his head...” He bit his lower mouth, not wanting to finish as it was a sensitive topic for the lizardmen and himself.

Marble; feeling uncomfortable, decides to change the subject back by saying in a nervous voice. “Why do you not wish for Mr.Satou to be king?”

“That thing does not know our ways, our laws. He may have beaten our queen, but he did not know that made him our ruler, nor do I believe he has beaten her in a real duel.” Garret responded.

“O-oh! I-I see.” Marble nervously said.

“And besides, it’s not like you seem to care for him much either. After all, it seems that you would rather follow this Eliza than you would him.” Garret pointed out.

Feeling more uncomfortable, Marble moves to the door. “Ohh look at the time; I got to get back to work. Bye!” With that she dashes out of the room and out of sight.

As soon as she closes the door behind her, Frostine walks up to Garrat, shaking her head. “You’re an idiot.” She said.

“Uh, what? Why your majesty?” The lizardmen before asking in confusion.

“You really think refusing the fact that Satou beat me means anything? I submitted to him of my own volition, but I didn’t think he was ready to know the truth of what he claimed… I mean, at the time; I thought I was the last of our kind. I honestly believed he was the only leader of me, hardly making him a king of anything.” Frostine respond.

“Well. Now you know you're not. We could all group up on him and beat him ourselves, then settle this as our laws dictate… If you won’t take the throne back from him yourself that is.” Garret responded as he peers at everyone in the room.

A knock came from the door, Frostine turned to look while Garret moved his head to look over her shoulder towards the door.

Frostine stops a few feet from the door before speaking up. “Who is it?”

“It’s me.” Owner of the voice opens the door. Stepping into view is the familiar android teenage girl, Eliza.

“... Who is this?” Garret asked as he looked at Eliza.

Eliza looks at Garret. “I’m Eliza.” She answer simply.

“Eliza, why are you here? I thought you were busy?” Frostine asks Eliza.

“I am checking on everyone and decided to check on the new people.” The android women said.

“Well, you’ve checked on us, so you can leave.” Garret responded as he glared at Eliza.

Eliza looked at him. “Why are you looking at me like that?”

“From what I remember, he looks at everyone that way.” Frostine admitted.

“Not everyone… just anyone who’s not of our kind.” Garret corrected.

Eliza rolls her eyes. “I see. You're a speciesist.”

“So what if I am, we are superior to you in every way.” Garret smug.

Eliza raised an eyebrow. “Superior on what exactly?”

“As I said, we are better than every other race in every way.” Garret repeated as Frostine shook her head in annoyance at his response.

The android woman folds her arms. “What do you have that I and others don’t?”

Frostine then cut in, glaring at Garret. “We aren’t better than anyone else… You know what happened, those damn Caribou are better than us. Eliza is likely better than us, and Satou is undoubtedly better than you!”

“How dare you say that we are weaker than that thing!” Garret shouted at Frostine suddenly getting angry as he towered over Frostine.

“Tell me, how many of you chose to accept his offer? And beyond it, how much did he have to try for it to happen?” Frostine responded as she stared at Garret, sharing a similar glare as his.

“That’s enough!” Eliza moves between them. “Frostine, what are you talking about? What do you mean by ‘offer’?”

“It doesn’t matter… These lots won’t follow anyone without getting some sense knocked into them.” Frostine state.

Looking at the situation; Eliza sighs before looking at the lizardmen group then to Frostine. “As long as they behave, they are allowed to stay here. But if any of them cause any trouble, I’ll personally do something about it.”

“Oh and what are you even going to do if we don’t, poke us to death?” Garret responded with a smirk.

Eliza summons her katana in scabbard and her hand already grip the handle. “You don’t want to push your luck.” She said sternly.

Garret continued to glare at Eliza for a moment before he shrugged his shoulders. “I hardly think it would hurt.”

Frostine just groaned at his actions before she picked up a piece of wood that had been resting against a wall as she quickly grabbed it like a staff and swung it against the side of his head, knocking him off balance before striking it into the top of his chest, causing him the bend forwards; gasping for air as she kicked his legs out from under him, knocking him to the floor. She stood on his chest, pinning him down.

“I’m sorry for his dreadful attitude Eliza. I’ll make sure to sort him out so he doesn’t cause any more trouble.” She then glared at Garret before adding. “And if you could get me a Caribou stun prod, I will teach him to respect everyone in this house.”

Eliza moves her hand away from the handle. “Nah, he’ll learn sooner or later.” She looks at Frostine. “And no Caribou prod.”

“Fine… although, I guess it’s going to be chaos with him for a while though.” Frostine admitted as she glared at Garret again.

“Anyways, I’ll be checking on the other new arrivals. See you.” With a wave of her free hand as her weapon vanish; she leaves the medical room. Searching for Satou recent addition members.

Meanwhile, Onyx Star had been wandering aimlessly around the mansion. She was only taken in her immediate surroundings when she realized that she's getting more and more lost in the maze of corridors.

This continued for a couple minutes until she lays against the wall, muttering. “This sucks. Why am I getting so lost in this place.”

“Hello?” A voice spoke out from her blind spot, causing her to turn her head towards the voice and saw Eliza standing beside her.

“Who are you?” Onyx asks.

“I am known by Eliza.” Eliza replies. “And you are?”

“O-Onyx Star. I was selected by Mr. Satou earlier from the dungeons and was brought here.” Onyx said nervously.

“Oh. So you’re new here then?”

“Umm… Yes. And very lost… and bored. I don’t know what I’m supposed to be doing.”

“Where did you want to go? Or are you just wandering around?”

“I don’t know. I don’t even know what my purpose is here to know what this collar is for.” Onyx stated before adding. “Do I go around serving Satou base desires or do I have a different job to do?”

“Didn’t Satou say anything to you before you joined?” Eliza asks in confusion.

“He said “that I think I’ll take you”. And then told me to wait with the others and… I may have wondered off when I arrived before he could tell me more.”

“I see. Well anyways. What did you want to do?”

“I don’t know… I don't have any kind of skills that could help here… I’ve never worked a day in my life.”

The android woman hmms to herself in thought, trying to think of something. “I would have put you somewhere for you to do but, hearing that you haven’t worked before…” She pauses, thinking for a moment before speaking up again. “What are you good at?” Eliza asks the black mare.

“I don’t really know how to answer that. I’m not really that good at anything useful to those around me.” Onyx responded sadly before she muttered something under her breath.

“What was that?” Eliza question, probably heard her say something.

“I don’t want to talk about it.”

“Alright.” Eliza turns to leave. “Well, I'll help you get used to this place. Be more familiar with the place.” Turn her head to look at Onyx.

“You sure? Why would you waste your time on somepony like me?” Onyx asked curiously.

Eliza giggles at that. “You're the first one to ever ask me that. But to answer that question, it’s because I want to help.”

Onyx slowly got off the wall as she spoke. “Where are we going first?”

“I think showing you the kitchen first, then the lounge room, the staff room where everyone gets ready for work, and lastly your room where you will be staying.” Eliza list.

“Okay.” Onyx responded, suddenly her stomach grumbles. The black mare looked down in embarrassment as she walked behind Eliza who giggled at her stomach calling.

As the duo arrived at the kitchen. Marble Stone was already there, preparing some food. The mare was humming a tune, not noticing them entering the kitchen.

“Here we are, the kitchen slash dining room.” Eliza said to Onyx.

“Okay.” Onyx responded as she looked around the room. Her stomach rumbles once again, this time loud enough that everyone could hear it as she whispered to herself. “No… please no more of that white stuff, just stay quiet.”

Marble heard the rumble and grabbed a plate that has crystal apple and berry, hashbrown, scrambled eggs and crystal apple juice. She turns and heads to the table where Eliza and Onyx are standing near, placing the plate and drink down.

Turning to Onyx, Marble gave her a nervous smile and spoke in a cheery tone. “Hello there, your new member; aren’t you?”

“Umm yes I am.” Onyx responds nervously as she looks to Marble.

“I hope you like your meal miss.” Marble gesture to the food.

Onyx looks at the food on the table, then looks to the floor and pauses. “... Where is mine… I don’t see a small dog bowl with that white stuff inside of it? Isn’t this one of yours?” Onyx asks, looks at Eliza and Marble.

“That's your food Onyx, she suggested making food for the new members and I agreed.” Eliza looks to the black mare.

“But… I thought that the only thing ponies like me were allowed to eat were bowls of that white stuff on the floor beside whoever owns us?” Onyx asks.

“We are against the idea. You can ask Satou later about that. But for now…” Eliza guides Onyx to her seat in front of the food. “eat.”

Onyx just looks at the food in front of her before slowly sitting down and begins to eat only for her eyes to begin to water after the first bite. She began to shovel the food in as fast as she could, seemingly crying as she did.

“I-Is the food to your liking?” Marble nervously ask. Onyx simply nods her head happily before getting back to eating.

“I’ll be right back.” Eliza said before leaving the kitchen.

Satou sat in his room looking over his desk that held some of the scrolls he received from Dainn. He slowly reads one of the scrolls, showing him a spell called ‘Zoom’.

“So... If I go large distances I can use this to teleport me and a group to a location I’ve visited before.” Satou mutters to himself. He looks over to Glacier who is asleep on the bed, his clothes in a neat pile on a side table.

Standing up from his chair; he walks up to the side of the bed. Deciding it’s time for a healing dose, the young boy carefully pulls the covers back, revealing Glacier’s scarred form, most of them had been healed into noticeable scars.

Satou held his arm out, whispering. “Aqua Heal.” His hand lit up in a cool blue glow before gathering to the palm as it forms the spell. The glow turned into a drop of water and fell onto Glacier inflictions, mending his wounds.

“One or two more times until he’s better.” Satou mutters to himself. He covers the young lizardmen sleeping form with the blanket before he goes back to his seats where it stands next to a desk.

After a couple of minutes, there was a knock coming from the door. “Who’s there?” Satou asks.

Frostine’s familiar voice called back “Master, it's me. The other Lizardmen want to talk with you.”

Satou just sighs at this. “Come in then.” He manually turned his chair to face the door. The door opens to reveal Frostine and the other lizardmen. They came inside, Garret had this glare directed at him. “What did you need to talk to me about?”

“Master… You remember how you defeated me when we first met?” Frostine asks.

“I remember that yes.” Satou responds. “What about it?”

“Well… at the time, I was the leader of the remaining members of my race. And after you-” Frostine said before she was cut off by Satou.

“Let me guess. After I beat you; your kind laws dictate that everything you own becomes the property of the one who defeated you, including your title, status and life?”

“Yes. That also includes them and my brother as well, we all are now your possessions.” Frostine said as she dropped down onto her knees and rested her head in Satou’s lap.

“Like Tartarus he is!” Garret shouted back. “I’m not accepting him as the owner of what’s left of our race until I see him defeat you personally!”

Satou just looked down to Frostine and rubbed her head before he said. “Do you share his feelings on this?”

“No I don’t. I’m happy to be yours. You’ve always done what you said you would for me. I am content to be yours in both body and soul.” Frostine responds, rubbing her head against his chest.

“And do you share his opinion?” Satou asks the remaining Lizardmen.

“We do.” One of the lizardmens said and the others nod in agreement. “We can’t trust princess Frostine’s words if she's telling the truth or just being affected by some odd power! After all; we have been apart for a long time, anything could have happened.”

“Okay then. How do we resolve this issue. In fact; I think the better question is ‘how do you want it to be solved’?” Satou asks as he looks at the Lizardman who answers first.

“We want to see proof, fight against our princess in an honorable battle!”

“Two things. One, inside voices, we have a sleeping child here. And two, if she is willing I will accept a duel from her.” Satou responded.

“You know she wouldn’t. That’s why we can’t trust her in this state.” First Lizardmen said.

Satou looks down at Frostine. “Frostine, will you challenge me to a duel so we can settle this properly?”

“Of course. If it will help them move on to follow our new leader I will be glad to fight you again without holding back.” Frostine responded.

“Does that appease you all?” Satou asked as he looked at the Lizardmen.

“Yes. But just so we’re clear, we want to see it all happen. If you try anything suspicious, we will see you as unworthy.”

“And what do you deem suspicious? What am I not allowed to do?” Satou asked.

“We can’t just tell you, that would ruin the test.” One Lizardmen said with a deadpan.

“Well is magic allowed? What weapons are allowed? Do either of those cause us any issues?” Satou asked in an attempt to learn what limitations he would have.

“You just fight, and we’ll see if you are worthy or not. As for what you're allowed to use, you ask Garret.”

“As for what’s allowed… it doesn’t matter as you will never be worthy of leading a race like ours.” Garret answer.

“Then do you need me to pin you to the floor again as you look even more like a submissive pet?” Satou asks as he looks at Garret.

“I did not get beaten by you!”

“That’s weird. I remember you jumping at me and being pinned down and submitting to be while looking at me like a sad puppy.” Satou responded.

“Fine! You did beat me! Just stop telling everyone I tried to beat you dishonourably!” Garret shouts before lowering his head. “Dammit… I just said that out loud, didn't I.”

“You did.” A young womens voice spoke up as Eliza lay on the door frame.

“How long was she there?” Garret asked.

“During your whole conversation.” Eliza said as she push off the frame.

“Is something wrong?” Satou ask, looking at her.

“Onyx is having trouble with what she was supposed to do, but at this moment she's eating.” She explain as she walk to Satou before smacking him behind the head, gaining a wince from him.

“Ouch! What was the slap for?” Satou asks, rubbing the back of his head.

“Treating others as though they are lower than you. Also to shut you up.” Eliza said plainly.

“Eliza, there was Dainn and other Caribou in a room next to me behind glass.” Satou stated. “You know how I need to act with that lot around.”

“I’m talking about right now, not before.” Eliza corrects Satou, turns to the Lizardman. “I hope he’s not causing any of you stress. He’s not good at socializing.”

“And neither are they,” Frostine added. “so they are both perfect fits for each other.”

“Anyways, if you're going to fight;” Eliza starts saying as she looks back at Satou. “you guys can spar in the yard, the one I use.”

“I think I’ll take you up on that.” Satou responds calmly before adding. “Also do you think you could keep an eye on the kid till I get back?”

Eliza sighs, two copies of her appear, one just walks out of the room and the other walks to the boy. “There. I’m watching you fight as a referee. I’ll just let my VR give Onyx the tour.”

“You don’t need to watch me fight. Why do you even want to?”

“I need to be there to stop you, also to see how you’ve been handling yourself in a fight. And no, my VR doesn’t count.”

“I see what you mean.” Satou responded with a shrug of his shoulders. “Anyway, do you want to lead the way or should I?” Rolling her eyes, Eliza gestures for them to follow as she heads out with the group not far behind.

As the group arrived at the yard, Satou looked towards Frostine. “Any idea what you want for a weapon?”

“I would say a spear.” Frostine calmly responds.

Satou simply nods his head before reaching into his bag and pulls out a large wooden staff. He passes it to Frostine before taking out a second identical one for his own use.

It was then that they were stopped by Garret who turned to Satou. “Those staves aren't tampered with I assume?”

“Do you want someone to check them?” Satou asks.

“I will.” Garret snatches the staff from Satou before swinging it at another one of the lizardmen. Lizardmen cross his arms when the staff is heading his way and it stops between the cross arms. He pass the staff back to Satou before repeating the process with Frostine’s staff, getting the same result. He grumbled at this. “Dammit. I hope one of them would’ve break.”

“Did you really think I would have given her tampered equipment?” Satou asks, raising one of his eyebrows as he did.

“He’s not like everyone else who requests challenges from my father in the past, Garret.” Frostine responds, feeling a little bit annoyed by the memories.

“He’s still not one of us.” Garret spat in annoyance.

Eliza sigh. “It’s just a precaution Satou, usual protocol.”

“I know that.” Satou acknowledges before looking at Frostine. “You ready?”

“Yes.” Frostine responded before adding. “But if I lose this time, I want you to take me and truly mark me as yours.”

“Are you really that desperate that you’re adding that as a thing?” Satou question.

“She means both what you think and a marking in line with our beliefs… I believe that the Caribou call it ‘branding’. She would have your emblem brand on either her rear or pelvis, or if she desires it both.” Garret states.

“We don’t do branding.” Eliza glare at Garret and Frostine.

“And if this is my choice and I desire it?” Frostine argues. “It is how we have lived as long as we can remember. And I will offer myself as such if I lose.”

Eliza just pinch her temple, shaking her head before walking towards the center of the smooth flat dirt land. “Anyways… Fighters, get to your starting point. You two will be fifty feet away from each other at the start of the fight. Arena is two yards in radius.”

Both Satou and Frostine made their way to their spots as she explain the rules. “If any of you get knocked out of the arena, you lose a point. There will be three rounds and whoever has the highest points wins. Your levels and stats will be fixed to a fair level to prevent level and stats advantage, your equipment must be within the current level or lower. No O.K. moves, damages will stop around nine thousand and no interference from non-competitors. Understand the condition?”

They both turned to Eliza and said; “Yes” “We understand”

“Okay...” Eliza stares at Frostine level to see 15. She closes her eyes, Satou Stat’s Menu pops into his view and sees the level and stats handicap have ‘turn on’, level becomes 15 and stats follows accordingly.

“Okay let’s see what I’m at...” Satou thought to himself as he saw that all of his stats were now in the low 50s, with him still having his current ranks on his skills.

Eliza wait for a moment before announcing. “Readyy,” to which she got a nod from each of them as both readied their weapons. “Seeeet,” Eliza moves away for the fighters. When she steps out of the arena, she shouts. “FIGHT!”

Chapter 16 (Rewritten)

As soon as Eliza finished counting down; the battle began. Frostine made the first move, charges at Satou, preparing to thrust her spear forwards at him. Satou slowly took a step backwards, moving his hands down the staff to allow him to strike Frostine first. When she gets close enough Satou quickly lunges forward with the end of the staff that struck her in the chest, knocking the wind out of her. She stumbles backwards but Satou went for another quick move, attacking her with a flurry of thrusts. One of the thrusts had knocked her onto her hindquarters. Then back off after giving her a few good blows, allowing her to get up.

“You would think that I’d learn not to rush in like that by now.” Frostine mutters to herself as she regains her balance. After that she charges in again and the same motions as before.

This kept happening four more times, getting a similar result, getting hit off her feet; smacked around or losing balance. After the fifth attempt, Frostine was lying on her back in exhaustion.

Satou looks at the others, expressing his discomfort. “Can we not just call this here? It’s getting embarrassing to watch this take place.”

“No.” Eliza said, raising one finger to the sky. “Satou, one. Frostine, zero.” She shouts to everyone.

“Please just end this in her loss, just so we don’t have to witness that again.” Garret argues, using one of his hands to cover his eyes while shaking his head. The other lizardmen groan as well, just wanting this to stop.

“Nope. You guys want this so you’ll get it, and you’ll deal with the embarrassment whether you like it or not.” Eliza said.

“Eliza… I know you want to prove a point here… but even I am finding this uncomfortable, and I doubt she can keep going.” Satou states as he looked at Frostine’s exhausted form.

Eliza looks to Satou. “That’s what you get. Besides, you need some embarrassment seeing as you have problems being social.”

“You know with that whole problem, I’m honestly surprised I can work with Dainn as I do.” Satou state.

“Well, don’t think that’s going to give you a free pass out of this match.”

“Fine...” Satou said. Young man looks at Frostine; who is still lying down on the ground trying to catch her breath. “But are you sure she can manage another round?”

“I don’t know. There will be a ten-minute break for each round. Though you waste one minute from talking. So nine minutes left before the next round starts.” Eliza explained.

“Fine by me.” Satou walked over to his bag, grabbing a scroll from inside it and began to read it. “Just tell me when we start again.”

Eliza stood there, waiting for the break to be over. At this moment Marble, Onyx, VR-2 Eliza walks out to see what’s going on. Eliza gave a short wave at them before going back to waiting. The new audience looking for a good spot to sit or stand, VR-2 Eliza must have explained to them about this fight.

As the final second goes Eliza clears her throat before speaking up loud for everyone. “Times up! Fighters, return to your starting point!”

Satou sighs, rolling the scroll back up and placing it back in his bag before walking back to his spot, flicking the staff into his hand from the ground before getting into his stance again.

Frostine seemed to do the same but she almost looked like she had little will to fight in her as she held her staff loosely in her claws.

“Round two. Ready?” Eliza looks to each fighter for confirmation.

“Ready.” Satou calmly answers.

“Sure.” Frostine said with a tone of defeat.

“Ready, set, fight!” Eliza shouted.

The second she did, Satou dropped into the same stance as before. However; unlike before, Frostine just drags her staff on the ground towards Satou before dropping it halfway before saying. “Just strike me a few hundred times... I surrender. I don’t see the point in trying to fight and making a fool of us all.”

Eliza walks to Garret and asks quietly. “Is she really bad at fighting?”

“Let me put it this way… We have only one strategy when fighting in honourable combat, and it did nothing. She knows no other fighting styles… none of us do apart from using different weapons.” Garret said. “And I really don’t need to look at that to know the truth… he beat her without any question. And I hate it.”

Eliza sighs before doing a time out hand sign. “Stop the match.”

“Where does this stand?” Satou asks Eliza.

“It clearly shows that she has no combat skills.” Eliza said tapping her chin.

“I already knew that.” Frostine mutters.

“So I’m gonna say this...” Young android women look at both Frostine and l
Satou. “Deal is off until Frostine gets proper training and can fight in a fair battle.” Eliza state.

Frostine looked to Eliza before saying. “No. I really don’t want that… I am not capable of the role and training won’t fix that. And I am sure the others share that opinion.”

Android women pinch her temple. “I see… Then it's clear that you are not qualified.”

“And as our traditions dictate, the victor becomes our king, and she becomes his.” Garret said, gesture a hand in Frostine’s direction. “She was the strongest of us and we all have no variation of our fighting styles… that thi- no; our new king is better suited and I can’t dispute that anymore.”

Eliza looks to the lizard captain. “The thing is, Satou isn’t a good choice.”

“Neither was she,” Garret argues gesturing to Frostine. “and I have no intention of gaining the title anymore. Our king is stronger than us all… and as strange as it feels to say this, I think we all accept him as our new leader.”

Eliza blink before facepalming with a groan. “You doom your kind.”

“Technically we are already doomed if she’s the last female of our race. Might as well go out following who we choose; good or bad.” Garret state.

Eliza sighs before walking away with Marble walks up to her nervously. “Your funeral. Don’t say I didn’t try warning you.”

‘She’s not wrong though.’Satou thought to himself.

“It won’t be a mistake!” Garret shouts in anger, glaring at Eliza from her insult at his king.

Satou walks beside Garret before smacking him behind the head. “Garret, I ask that you treat her with the same respect you would me.”

The captain of the Lizardman looks down before apologizing. “I understand my king.”

“And now you behave… I don’t believe it was that easy.” Frostine responds as she rests her head against Satou’s chest again.

Turning to Satou, Eliza lazily points her finger at him. “Satou’s not a “Leader”-type material.”

“Even if he isn’t, the strong are the most suitable to lead.” Garret argued.

Satou looks at Eliza then taps the side of his head three times hoping that she understood him. He heard a click in his head and in his vision at the lower-left corner of blue, highlighted words saying ‘Ez-004, Mental Chat On’ before fades away over time.

“Eliza, can you hear me?” Satou asked through the link.

“Yeah.” Eliza mentally said.

“Sorry for having to do this the way we are. I was simply going to ask if you would be able to help me with the shortcoming you keep bringing up just so I don’t get these idiots killed.” Satou requested.

“That depends on what kind of help you need.”

“I think you know the answer to that Eliza… and you just want to hear me say it don’t you?” Satou responded as the young android women nodded at that. “Of course you do… Eliza… I want you to help me become a better leader.”

“That’s like asking for an expensive ticket for less than ten dollars. I don’t know if you can…” Eliza thought uncertainty.

“Eliza… we both know those new lizardmen only think with their fists, and we also know that Frostine really wanted to pass the role on to someone… and depending on how you look at it, it was, unfortunately, me who they deem to fit their beliefs… I honestly believe I need your help, considering you are the only other person here I trust to help me.”

“I’m sorry to say this, but your past moments of leading me to battle during the wave shows how little trust you put in me.” Eliza mentally remarks.

“To be fair, back then I thought you would have been placed better if you were keeping everyone safe, almost all the caribou were scared half to death and the others barely looked ready to fight back, I was more expecting you to be able to keep everyone safe, after all homes can be rebuilt, the dead can’t be brought back.”

"And your assumptions are wrong." Eliza mentally said sternly.

“You do remember that you were on the other side of the battlefield, and he was alone and surrounded, at the time I thought he wasn’t going to last till someone else reached him. I admit; with the knowledge I have now that it may have been a better call to go straight for the boss, but at that time I thought his life was in more danger.”

“Just tell them that you are not leader material!”

Satou didn’t say anything for a moment. “And then what? Have it become a free for all with them fighting to decide who’s best? You need to remember all that it will cause is, Garret to lead them and trying to go to war with the Caribou with only them facing him… they’ll get themselves killed in an instant… Do you really think that is the best course of action?”

“Then have someone else lead them!” Eliza mentally said irritated.

“...Look, no matter how we do this nobody will be happy and I can bet the only ones in the house they will lose to in a fight is me, you or Isaac… So how about to keep their “the strong may lead” philosophy? I order that they follow the commands of us both? That way you also lead them and it may keep them from misbehaving as much if they were to have the fear of angering both of their leaders looming over them.”

“But they never saw me fight… I don’t think they’ll do that without proof.”

“Then why not try something, Garret seems to default to their leader and if he needs proof, we could have you face him… Just don’t beat him too quickly, we wouldn’t want to completely wreck his confidence.”

“... Fine.” Eliza mentally said with a shrug.

“At least this way we both get a say in what they do and they have someone to follow when I’m dealing with Dainn.” The android woman thought about this before nodding at this. “So… You ready to get this sorted?”

“Go ahead.” She said in the mental link.

Satou took a deep breath, preparing for what he’s going to say before looking at the group; who seemed to be arguing again. “You lot listen up. If I am going to be leading you I have one thing we need to sort.”

“What is that my king?” Garret asked as he looked at Satou.

“I will not always be around to handle your problems and disputes like I should be, as such I am wanting you all to be co-ruled by Eliza to account for my absences.”

“Like I’ll agree to follow her, I doubt she could even beat me in a fight!” Garret shouted.

Satou just smirked. “She is just as capable of a warrior as me that much I can assure you.”

“I won’t believe it till I see it!” Garret argued.

Eliza looks to Garret. “Is that what you want?”

“I want to see proof that you are indeed capable! I refuse to follow some weakling's orders, even if my king requests it!” Garret ordered.

“Then how will we fight, you choose.” Eliza gestures to Garret.

“The same way as our king did, but I only need a single round, but we fight till only one of us is able to stand!” Garret shouted. “And I will be wanting to use a sword.”

“Very well.” She said without a second thought before looking at Marble. “Marble, can you bring everyone from the house to watch this fight. I want the workers to see my combat capabilities first hand. Unless,” Eliza looks to Garret. “If you don’t mind?”

“I don’t mind;” Garret responded. “I’ll be happy to show them just how weak you are!”

“Well do you mind if I check on Glacier first?” Satou responded.

“Go right ahead.” Eliza said, heading for the right side of the starting point of the arena as Marble heads inside to get everyone while Satou makes his way back to his room.

As soon as Satou reached his room he walked inside to find the copy of Eliza sitting in the same place as before, watching Glacier sleeping form.

“How’s he doing?” Satou asks as he walks up to her.

“He is doing alright, woke up five minutes ago but fell asleep soon after.” VR-3 Eliza said softly.

“That’s good, how was he when he woke up?”

“He panicked but with a few reassuring words that he’s safe that he calms down. I gave him a glass of water before telling him to get some rest.”

“Did he tell you what seemed to scare him?” Satou asked as he knelt down beside her.

“Fear of dealing with more testing and a test of the duration of his body.” VR-3 Eliza said sadly.

“I see, I’m not surprised with the state he was in before I brought him here.” Satou responded before placing his hand out again before casting the same spell again. Sighing as he continued. “Think he’ll wake up again anytime soon?”

“Don’t know. His eyes look very tired, sooo... maybe three or more hours.”

“I see.” Satou responded. “I apologise for having you keep an eye on the kid for me, a lot needs sorting. But if he wakes up again and doesn’t want to fall back asleep before I get back, could you bring him to the training field where everyone else is?”

“Sure, though I doubt he’ll be awake to see much of the fight but I’ll bring him if he does.”

“Thank you, and if they finish as quickly as I expect; they will, I’ll be back before he wakes up.” Satou added before kissing the copy on the head, “I owe you another one… And I hope you aren’t keeping track or I’ll soon be in debt.”

“That’s two so yes.” VR-3 Eliza said before adding with a serious tone. “Also don’t kiss my forehead like that again.”

“Right sorry about that.” Satou said, rubbed the back of his head before making his way back to the training field.

The android women had stood in the same spot when Satou came back outside. He sees everyone living and working in the mansion had come outside, standing a few feet away from the edge of the ring. Marble soon came back and stood beside Onyx who was looking around nervously as she rubbed her wrists.

Garret was standing at the edge of the arena talking with the remaining Lizardmen while Frostine had decided to stand near Froststorm who was standing a small distance back from the crowd.

As Satou arrived back at the arena; walking towards the main group, only for Frostine to quickly run up to him and wrap her arms around him in a hug while Froststorm calmly walked to stand beside him.

Satou looked at both of them. “Is everything going okay here?”

“Of course master!” Frostine responded as she smiled happily as she wrapped her arms around Satou’s left arm.

“Mostly okay… and Dainn had Sombra leave you a message earlier, it was handed to me to give you when I next saw you.” Froststorm added as she held a scroll out to him.

“Thanks; Froststorm. I’ll give it a read later.” Satou thanked her as he placed it in his bag, before looking towards the arena.

Android young women look to Garret. “Are you ready yet?”

“I don’t know. Are all of your audience here yet?” Garret responded with a smirk.

“They are.” Eliza said. “When you're ready, stand at the start spot in the arena.”

“Fine… But I do hope that you have two identical weapons we can use?” Garret asked.

“You have to ask Satou, Afterall, the only sword I ever used is my sword.” Eliza looks to Satou. “You have anything?”

“I think I do.” Satou thinks as he reaches into his bag. He pulls out two wooden shortswords which he passed to both Eliza and Garret.

Eliza looks at the weapon nervously, treating it like she’ll break it.

“I don’t have anything else that won’t end up getting one of you needing medical attention after the fight.” Satou responded.

Eliza looks to Satou then to the wooden sword. She calls her sheath and slides the weapon in before unsheathing as her Skill: Quick Draw Burst activates by her command. A burst of aura shot out of herself and blade, those that were not within blade range yet close to her got a feel of a strong burst of air during the quick burst. She looks like she’s hoping for something, but none of them knew why. That is; until they see the weapon she was provided broke apart.

Eliza’s head droop. “Sorry.”

“Don’t worry… I have too many wooden swords as it is… But I’m not sure what we could use that won’t break apart.” Satou admitted.

“Maybe I should just go with Grace.”

“And what do we have that can match it for him?” Satou asks in confusion.

“Just give him any he wants. Something sturdy and around Attack 40 plus.”

“You sure it's a good idea to give him something like that?” Satou asked as he began looking through his inventory.

“Yes.” She said. It’ll be dangerous but that's a risk she's willing to take.

After a couple of seconds, he pulled out a long sword which had its handle made from bone that was covered in blue scales while the blade itself looked to be made from a strange white metal.

Satou asks. “Will this do?”

Eliza opens the weapon info and stats. Damage +39, and +5 defence from the scales. With a nod, she closed the info screen. “Yeah.”

“Okay then.” Satou responded before passing the sword to Garret before stepping to the side as Garret made his way onto his spot.

“Will you do the honours of being our referee, Frostine?” Eliza asks the frost lizardwomen.

“I guess so.” Frostine responded, walking towards the edge of the arena. “Are you both ready?”

Eliza held Grace in one hand as her combat suit replace her sleep clothes, though the armor parts didn’t appear beside her right arm since it had her sheath holder which was already equipped after her weapon test. “I’m ready.” She responds.

“Ready.” Garret added as he gripped the sword in his claws, glaring at Eliza.

Frostine looked at both fighters. “Set...” She raised her arm above her head before throwing downwards as she shouted. “Fight!”

Eliza held the blade in both hands, keeping an eye on Garret, who instantly charged towards her, him preparing to thrust his sword towards her. She dodge to the right and held the blade in a block stance when he got within range, Garret's blade skid across the flat side of her blade. Halfway through the blade length is when she moved past him a few distances away, still facing him.

Garret seems to growl at this before quickly turning back around, once again charging and trying to stab his sword forwards, almost in the same fashion to the way Frostine had tried to attack Satou before. Eliza just repeats her previous action and avoids the attack again.

“Stop moving and fight me!” Garret shouted.

Android women look at him for a moment before running at him, holding her blade horizontal with the palm of her right hand pressed on the back edgeless side. Garret smirked at this before moving his own blade to try and parry Eliza’s. What he wasn’t expecting was her suddenly skid a few feet away from him in mid charge before doing a front flip over him and landing to look at Garret.

The Lizardman glare hardens at her, yet again just charging in at her. She didn’t do anything besides holding the blade horizontal and right hands palm placed on the back edgeless side. Garret didn’t stop as he continued charging at Eliza, swung his blade diagonally at her as soon as he got close enough. Just as his blade hit hers, her blade broke in two, making her stumble back in surprise.

“Did you expect that to happen?” Frostine asked as she looked at Satou.

“No… I did not!” Satou responded before he looked back to Eliza and Garret.

“I thought you chose to use that sword because it wouldn’t break!” Garret laughed before saying. “Maybe you should have stuck with a wooden one instead, even that looked less fragile!”

Eliza shook her head, getting her mind back into the fight, raising both fists up.

“Seriously? Are you going to try and punch me to win?” Garret asked before looking to Satou. “Is this her loss or what!” Before he could get an answer Eliza dashed at him and gave a right hook to the side of his face, sending him stumbling back.

Garret recovers from the surprise attack before swinging his sword at her yet again, though she moved her right arm, the sheath attached to her mech bracer block his weapon.

“Don’t get cocky, Garret.” Eliza said seriously.

“Okay then!” Garret said angrily before wildly swinging his sword with no clear direction or target, most strikes not even getting close to Eliza.

She waited for an opening. When she saw one, Eliza gave him an uppercut punch, causing him to stumble back again and this time dropped his sword. He glares at Eliza and tries to swing his own fist at her. His fist connects to her crossed arms, she adjusted her arms to block his incoming attack.

“Your,” Eliza grunt, fell to one knee, struggling to stand. “not, gonna, win!”

“Really? Doesn’t look that way!” Garret responded as he walked towards her before kicking her in the side of the head, she fell to her side.

“Wait… Did she just lose?” Frostine asked as she looked at the scene in front of them.

Satou didn’t respond as he re-opened the mental chat with Eliza. “Okay, are you really serious right now Eliza?” He didn’t get a response, not even a connection.

Marble looked worried when she saw Eliza not getting up. “Miss Eliza…” She whisper, part of her wanting to go to her to help but holds herself back in hope that the android woman is alright.

“Okay… So I guess I’ll need to do something,” Satou responded as he held his hand out before saying; “Aqua Heal” before a drop of water fell onto Eliza’s face.

“Hey! That's pretty much cheating!” Garret shouted at Satou.

“And I’m pretty sure it’s been more than a count of 10.” Satou added.

“And what does that mean?”

“Pretty much that you won… As for “how” I have no idea.” Satou admitted. Before Garret can do another thing the Eliza on the ground vanish into data codes.

“Wait; What?! Where did she go?!” Garret asked as he looked around.

“Right Here!” A familiar voice spoke behind him before getting hit hard that sent him flying forward right at the edge of the makeshift arena.

“Or maybe not.” Satou muttered to himself.

“Okay! How is that even fair?!” Garret shouted as he stood back up.

Eliza reappears in a right thrust punch stance. Her body relaxes and rests her blade on her sword arm shoulder. “And how is that unfair?”

“You weren't even in the arena to fight! So how could you even count as fighting!” Garret shouted.

“I was in the arena, you just couldn’t see me.” Eliza counters his statement.

“We didn’t disallow magic or spells… So it didn’t break any rules.” Satou stated.

“Come on! Seriously!” Garret shouted before running towards Eliza yet again. “This time I’ll make sure you stay down!”

“Sorry, I have to end this quickly.” Eliza said as her blade is sheath, taking a calm breath. With a motion, Eliza slides the blade out as she dashes at him.

Garret seems to ignore this as he continues charging her - still unarmed. Jumping up into the air, lunging a punch forward towards Eliza’s face. Seeing the incoming fist, she jumped back with a VR Eliza in her place. “Again with swapping yourself with a fake!” Garret shouted as he struck the copy knocking it to the floor and dissipated into data.

Android women quickdraw with her slashing the blade in a diagonal swing, from the swing itself shot a shockwave projectile at Garret who failed to dodge as the shockwave struck him, once again knocking him to the floor at the edge of the arena.

“Have enough?” Eliza asks Garret, relaxing her stance after seeing him being a good distance.

“Not a chance!” Garret shouted as he stood back up on shaky legs before he sluggishly charged Eliza again. She dashes at him and strikes him at the chest with a horizontal swing which makes contact with him before launching him out of the arena. He collapses onto the ground just in front of Satou and Frostine.

“You think he’s done?” Satou asks as he looks at Eliza, they hear a groan from Garret.

“That’s up to him.” Eliza said with a shrug.

Satou and Frostine then looked down to Garret again, waiting a couple of seconds before Frostine said. “Yeah… He’s done.”

Satou looks to the other lizardmen. “I assume there are no other objections?”

“N-no.” One of them stuttered.

“Good.” Satou responded before looking at Garret. “Take him to get medical attention.” Marble, hearing this, tells a few maids to help bring Garret to the medical wing. He then looked back to the other lizardmen. “I take it you all share the same method of fighting as him?”

“W-we have less experience than him.” Same lizardmen answers.

“Probably doesn’t help that you all didn’t do much to begin with.” A voice states from behind the crowd that got everyone's attention. A wolf walks forward towards them with Drayce on it’s back. “I mean, none of you ever took training with your previous king seriously either.”

“D-Drayce?” One of the lizardmen stuttered in shock as he saw the lizardmen. “We thought you were killed along with the king?” The other Lizardman nodded, thinking the same way.

“Not killed. Taken and sold off like the Princess was.” Drayce explained.

“And what happened to your… umm.” Another Lizardman asks, looking at his missing legs but stopped before he goes any further.

“I lost both my legs after we escaped. We attacked Satou and during that the sky was filled with fire, and when I regained my senses I lost my legs and saw the princess lose to Satou before I lost consciousness.”

“Wait, fire in the sky? The princess really lost?!” Third lizardmen stutters, dumbfounded.

“Well from what I remember of it, the sky around us turned red then the next thing I remember was being on the ground without my legs.” Drayce began to say but stopped when his mind caught up to the last part. “Wait… Did you all really think Satou was lying about beating her in a fight?”

“Y-yes. We thought it was a fluke so we asked for proof.” The lizardmen answered.

“You all do remember the only training she had was from me and her father. She may have more training than you all do but she’s by no lengths able to fight.” Drayce admitted.

“Yeah… I really need to work on that.” Frostine added as he nuzzled up to Satou’s sides.

“Either way… She has lost, twice to him. Do any of you still have any reservations on these two leading us?” The lizardmen all look at each other before answering with a shake of their heads ‘No’.

“I should expect not.” Drayce responded. He then turns to Satou and Eliza before adding. “I apologize for being away for as long as I have. I had… personal matters to attend to.”

“It’s alright.” Eliza reassured Drayce.

“Why does this “personal matters” worry me?” Satou asked.

“It shouldn’t… I just collected some winning from when we arrived… And spending said winning on a few things.” Drayce admitted.

“I feel like i’m going to regret asking. Why did you get those winning from?”

“I bet on a certain… tournament winner.” Drayce responded.

“Of course you did.” Satou responded as he shook his head. He turns his head to Eliza before asking. “Do you have any free time on your hands to help me teach them a bit?”

Eliza tsk at that. “I’ll do it myself. I’ll get them to shape.” She looks at Satou. “You go and check up on the kid.”

“You sure you don’t want an extra set of hands?” Satou asked.

“I can do this all day without exhaustion, you can’t. Anyways, you’d just do it wrong and I'll have to fix up your mistakes, which in itself wastes their training.”

“How would I do it wrong?” Satou asked as he set multiple wooden training weapons against a nearby wall.

“So far, I only ever see you use that gun of yours and that doesn’t require training and the staff.” During their conversation, everyone went back to what they were doing besides the lizardmen folks.

“Okay, fair point,” Satou responded after a couple of seconds before looking at Frostine and Drayce before he said. “If you're both feeling up to it, I think it would be best for you to join them.”

“Of course.” Drayce responded. “I’ll make sure they focus on what they need to do and try to work on using my spear while I’m riding on the wolves.”

“I think I might do that.” Frostine responded, adding while she rubs up against Satou’s side. “But after I finish training; I am going to see you again.”

“Just knock if I’m in my room, and if it's for the requests that you wanted before the duel, those will need to wait.” Satou responded with a shake of his head.

“Fine.” Frostine responded with a sigh. “But I’m still coming to talk to you about that… And other things.”

“Okay then.” Satou responded before looking back to Eliza. “I’ll leave them in your capable hand. Do you need me to get you anything else before I go?”

“Nah, Marble will be back for refreshments for them so nothing else. Now then.” Eliza turns to the lizardman. “Let's start by running around the gate twenty times, and if I see any of you use a cheap method then all of you will get ten more laps. Got it?!”

“Yes, Princess Eliza.” Frostine responded as she kissed Satou before she began to run off in the direction Eliza had ordered her with the remaining lizardmen following close behind her.

“Umm… when you say cheap tricks. Where do I sit in that regard?” Drayce asked.

“You're alright so don’t worry about it. Though-” Eliza starts talking to him about his training as Satou turned to head back to his room.

Satou reached his room and walked inside to find the scene was almost identical to when he had left, placing his bag by his desk before walking over to the copy of Eliza before speaking up. “Any changes since I left?”

“He’s doing well. As for if he’s awake, he’s still asleep. That fight didn’t take very long.” VR-2 Eliza report.

“I didn’t really expect it too. It was Eliza fighting Garret, who already said to her they all have the same fighting style, so she knew he would be just charging her.” Satou admitted.

“Is that your assumption on my action in the fight? It wasn’t the knowledge of them charging at me, I just waited for an opening or got him to attack first so I can decide on the course of action.”

“Even with that, it wouldn’t take long for a single round. It doesn’t seem they’ve had much training up till now.”

“Tell me, in your own assumption, why did I go with doing those actions instead of just beating him quickly?”

“Knowing you, it would have been to either test how capable he was, or to see how he’d react to different things.”

“Both, but also to see if he’ll try to do something different.”

“Which it was pretty clear he didn’t.” Satou responded, shaking his head.

“No, he did do one. Instead of just charging at me, he swung his weapon as well. Just a little change but it’s definitely different.”

“Okay point taken.” Satou responded. “What other tasks have you got to do today?”

“Besides training the Lizardmen’s and Frostine, nothing.”

“Okay then.” Satou said. “Is there anything you want to do?”

“I’m only here to keep an eye on the child. Hmm…” She thinks about it for a moment before answering with. “Sorry, can’t think of anything.”

“Okay… I’m sorry, but there must be something you’d want to do, other than maintaining this place and looking after everyone I brought here.”

“As long as the caribou’s have control, nothing really. I’d rather deal with them now but it’s not a good time.”

“The thing is even if we did kick them out that leaves it back where they started without a home and wondering looking for one. We’d just end up sending the problem elsewhere, and killing them all doesn’t sit right with me.” Satou admitted.

“And it’s harder with you making suggestions to their culture is only making their ways less bad when it is bad.” Eliza counter his reasoning.

“I know that.” Satou responded. “But I don’t feel like I can completely disregard their culture. It is most of their heritage… I wouldn’t like it if some random creature appeared and tore down my entire race's beliefs because they viewed it as wrong.”

“They change the ponies culture! And you are defending the caribou’s?!”

“Let me just say that I don’t agree with theirs either… but we also weren’t around when everything changed here.” Satou paused before shaking his head, “If we had a way to stop them, without committing genocide, I would try it, but I don’t have one that could work.”

“They need to leave, they are ruining these ponies' lives and minds! Sooner or later, someone is going to kill them without a second thought and it’s not gonna be us.”

“And go where exactly?” Satou asked.

“Anywhere that they’re culture doesn’t ruin others lives.”

“Well… if we can find somewhere that we can send them to we can try it.” Satou responded. “but right now we don’t have one.”

“Anyways.” She got up. “Now that you're back, I’m off.”

“If you need me for anything, just ask. Okay?” Satou offered. With that she faded into data codes, leaving just Satou with Glacier.

Chapter 17

Sitting at a desk, Satou is looking through scrolls and magic books from Dainn. Most of the scrolls offer very little terms of usefulness. Ignite is one of them, a spell that creates a single small flame hovering at the tip of his finger. There’s also one with a hovering ball of light and another creating a small gust of wind.

At the moment; he’s reading a scroll about Caribou history back in their home country. One scroll has a subject on a giant, strange hourglass-shape with a dragon surrounding it. By how few sentences it has; they don’t know what it even is and just guess captions written in caribou language for script. There’s a note of a rewrite of what they said into a strangely familiar language, English.

‘I wonder when someone actually went to translate this and why?’ Satou thought, then read some of the notes. “Dragon Hourglass. Used to measure the time until a wave starts in the area.” Satou rolls it back up then places it back into his bag.

Moving on to the next scroll but stops as he notices one scroll having a stamped seal made of some wax.

Carefully removing the seal, Satou unrolls it to see strangely written; not in Caribou Script like the others; but in poorly written English. He tries to carefully read what was written. ‘Satou. Visit when you can... Need you to do something... Dainn… Okay one: Who taught him to write English? And two… Why did he write a message to me in English in the first place? He must know I can read the script on the scrolls to learn from them after all.’

Shaking his head at this, rolling it back up. “I suppose I’ll need to visit him soon for whatever he needs me to do for him.” Satou mutters.

Turning his head to look behind, his eyes glancing at Glacier; him still sleeping. The young kid quietly shuffles under the covers a few times, his head turning in fear.

Satou shook his head at this before slowly standing up, walking to the side of the bed. Sitting next to him, heard Glacier muttering in his sleep. “... P-please stop... Leave me alone! S-Stop!”

‘He must be having a flashback to where he was before.’ Satou thought.

Glacier’s eyes snap open, his body shot upright. Screaming out in fear as his body shivers, tears streaming down his cheeks. Satou carefully wraps his arms around the crying child when he sits up, holding him in his arms while using one hand to rub the back of the child's head.

“Don’t worry Glacier, I’m here. They can’t hurt you.” Satou says in reasurance, lifting Glacier from the covers; resting the young lizard kid in his arms, trying to calm him down.

This held up for a while, Satou slowly rubbing his head while whispering calm words to him.

After a few minutes of reassuring Glacier, Satou looks at the young lizard child. “Anything you need?”

“... N-No I’m fine.” Glacier thinks, the child’s stomach rumbles. “Umm… maybe something to eat and drink.”

“I think we can handle that.” Satou replies. He opens up a voice chat with Eliza only to see a message saying: (EZ-004: Offline, two hours ago)

“... Or maybe we’ll handle it later.” Satou says with a shake of his head. “For now; I think we need to get you cleaned up a bit.”

“... W-What do you mean?” Glacier asks nervously at Satou.

“Your entire body is covered in dust, dirt and who knows what else. So you need a bath.” Satou says as he stands up then heads towards the bathroom, still carrying Glacier in his arms.

“A bath? ... What's a bath?” Glacier asks in confusion.

“And that explains a lot.” Satou says with a sigh. “Let’s just say, it will allow me to get you clean.” Carrying Glacier into the bathroom, closing the door behind them.

Half an hour later, Satou steps out while carrying a wrapped up Glacier in a towel. The lizard kid scales are now clean; the gaps between the scales now barely visible in comparison to the dirt from earlier.

“Was that so bad?” Satou asks while Glacier rests his head on Satou’s chest.

“... N-No it wasn’t… It still felt... weird.” Glacier says nervously.

“How did you even wash yourselves before?” Satou asks.

“We swam in a lake... and that did it.”

“Aren’t they all frozen most of the time?” Satou asks.

“Y-yeah… we may have only been able to wash ourselves properly once a year, and that was only when the ice melted enough.”

“That explains all the dirt on you all.” Satou mutters to himself. He sat down on the bed before placing Glacier on his lap.

There was a short moment of silence. The young, lizard child just looks down; not knowing what to say or ask. Satou; however, remembered something from earlier. “Now. Do you still want something to eat?” Just then; Glacier stomach rumbles, the young child looks up at Satou nervously. “I take that as a yes?” Glacier nods as he slowly gets off Satou; standing a few feet away.

“... A-am I-I going to have to wear those weird things?” Glacier points at the clothes Satou’s wearing.

“That may be for the best.” Satou nods at that.

“... Then… c-can you help me?” Glacier asks while looking at Satou, a look of embarrassment forming on his face.

“You sure?” Satou asks. With Glacier nodding his head back to him Satou walks over to some clean clothes he placed on the side before sitting on the bed again, Glacier went to sit next to him. Satou starts assisting Glacier in getting into his somewhat new clothes.

“This isn't going to become a daily occurrence is it?” Satou asks Glacier.

“... M-maybe for a bit...” Glacier mutters.

“If you do ask. I don’t see why not.” Satou says as he smiles. “So, shall we get going?”

Glacier is unsure at first but then nods in response. He stood back up before walking next to Satou as they both left the room and made their way to the kitchen.

As the duo reach the kitchen they look inside, finding both Eliza, Marble and Froststorm. Eliza and Marble are sitting at the table; the android woman looks through a clipboard while Marble seems to be dozing in and out of sleep. Frostorm standing near the counter trying to make something from some ingredients.

The young lizard kid got nervous at seeing them. “... Um… Are they okay?” Glacier asks, tightening his grip on Satou’s hand as he looks at Froststorm.

“They’re all fine. None of them will hurt you.” Satou reassures him with a calm tone.

“... P-promise?” The young lizard looks up at Satou nervously.

“Yeah; I do.” Satou answers. With somewhat reassurance; Glacier’s grip lessens a bit as Satou leads Glacier to the group table. Once they get closer to the group they wait for a second for any response.

Seeing that they weren't reacting to their entrance; Satou calmly spoke up. “Are you all doing okay?”

Eliza looks from the clipboard in her hand to look at the duo but goes back to her clipboard. Marble; however; her head hits the table that got Eliza’s attention. The mare is sleeping gently as her arms move to rest her head on.

“I feel like she needs to get a bit more sleep at night.” Satou admits as he looks at Eliza.

“She’s done her work during the day, chances of her working overtime aren't high. Especially that they aren’t really getting paid for their work with the whole “Females are slaves” going on.” The young android woman says as she places her clipboard on the table before looking at Satou and Glacier. “So I don’t know why she’s tired.” She thought for a moment and shook her head. “Anyways. I guess the young one is finally awake I see.” Eliza looks at Glacier.

“I-I-I hope I wasn't too much trouble...” Glacier says, looking down at the ground.

“Not at all.” Eliza shook her head before giving him a gentle smile. “How are you by the way? Are you feeling better?”

“M-mostly. I-I’m not in pain anymore… I th-think...” Glacier admits somewhat as he tightens his grip on Satou’s hand.

“That’s good to hear.” The android girl looks up at Satou. “So; what are you here for? Food? Or were you looking for someone?”

“Well yes to the food; but not for me.” Satou gestures to Glacier. “He woke up and he needed something to eat.”

“Oh, well…” Eliza looks over to Marble sleeping form. Seeing that she’s asleep; the android stands up from her seat before heading to the kitchen part of the room. “What would you like to eat, kid?”

“Umm… What do you have?” Glacier asks nervously as he looks towards Eliza.

“We have crystal fruits of some varieties… Enough ingredients for pancakes… Can you give me something to go with and I’ll tell you if I can make it or not?”

“Uh… I-I don’t know what I want.” Glacier nervously says as he rubs his arm.

“Tell you what;” Eliza starts to say as she walks up to him, crouching down to eye level. “How about I choose what to make this one time and next time you might have an answer. How’s that sound?” She asks kindly.

“Uh-um,T-thank you M-Miss.” Glacier mutters, stutters as he did. Eliza leaning in and gives his forehead a soft kiss; surprising Glacier. He recoils back before hiding behind Satou’s leg, pulling the cords on his jacket tight as they cover his blushing face.

“I think the little hatchling is uncomfortable with people touching him that way.” Froststorm spoke after seeing what happened with a chuckle.

Eliza stood back up, giggling at the lizard child reaction. “I’m sorry Glacier. Hope I didn’t scare you?”

“... N-No you didn’t.” Glacier mutters, still behind Satou as he keeps his face hidden from Eliza. Holding onto Satou’s leg as close as possible.

Sighing in relief, Eliza heads to the kitchen to prepare Glacier food. As soon as Eliza was no longer looking at Glacier; he let go of his grip from Satou before walking ahead of him. Slowly looking up towards Satou, a blush still visible on his face as he looks at him.

“Do you want a lift?” Satou asks as he looks down only to get a nod from Glacier.

Satou lifts Glacier up into his arms, allowing the young child to rest his head on Satou’s shoulder before Glacier pushes his head against Satou's shoulder, hiding his face from view.

“T-thank you...” Glacier mutters back before slowly turning his head to rest his head onto Satou’s shoulder and against the neck.

“No problem.” Satou says, then rub the back of Glaicer’s neck as he moves to sit at the table while carrying Glacier in his arms.

‘Why did she do that? ... It felt... weird.’ Glacier thought, mumbling to himself under his breath as he began to shake slightly, his blush grew brighter.

Ten minute later; Eliza came back with a plate that had two pancakes, a glass of crystal apple juice, and two cookies. Placing it in front of Glacier on the table. “Here you go. Some pancakes, cookies and some crystal apple juice.” Glacier slowly pulls his head back upon hearing Eliza’s voice then slowly turns to look at her, his blush having faded during the time he had been waiting. As soon as he sees the food place in front of him, Satou lowers him to sit on the seat next to him.

“... A-are you s-s-sure I’m okay to have a-all this?” Glacier nervously asks as he looks at Eliza; still trying to hide his face as he did.

“It’s alright dear. Go ahead… Do you know table manners?” Eliza asks him, making sure if Glacier can.

“Table- what now?” Glacier asks while tilting his head to the side in confusion. “Can’t I just cut it up with my claws or just stuff it all down at once?”

Eliza explains the basics about table manners, making sure she uses words he might understand. Glacier however just looks back at her with the same look of confusion. He did try to reach his food, only to find the table being too high up for him to reach.

“Um… C-Could you help me?” Glacier asks as he looks back at Satou, giving off a nervous chuckle as he did.

“Sure.” Satou responds, moving his legs together for Glacier to sit on. Carefully moving Glacier back onto his knees; allowing him to sit a bit higher as he moves the food in front of them.

“... Um… Thank you.” Glacier says in appreciation before nervously reaching towards the food. Grabbing one of the cookies in his claws, the second it was in his mouth that he froze for a moment before quickly chewing the cookie until there's none of it left. He reaches for the pancakes and stuffs them into his mouth, tears running down his face.

“Maybe we’ll work on his table manners another time?” Satou suggests, looking at Eliza who giggles at this.

“Maybe. We’ll let him relish this for now.” Eliza says as she returns to her seat to get back to her list.

“That might be a good idea.” Satou agrees with a nod of his head. “So… How have things been for you and everyone else here?”

“It’s alright; I guess.” Eliza says.

“Why; “I guess”? Is something a matter?”

“It’s a private matter, Satou. Now;” She got out of her seat with a clipboard in hand. “-do you need me for anything?”

“Not at this moment.” Satou admits as he observes Glacier who almost finishes his food with most being in his mouth.

“Then I’ll take my leave.” With that Eliza heads out of the room.

Glacier swallows the food in his mouth. “Are things always this weird between you two?” Glacier asks.

“Not always...” Satou rubs the top of Glacier's head then reaches for a napkin on the table. “But maybe we should get you cleaned up a bit okay?”

“O-okay.” Glacier replies; nervous chuckle as Satou carefully cleans the remaining food off Glacier’s face.

“That's better.” Satou says with a kind smile. After that he looks around the room before shaking his head. “I guess I’d better go see what Dainn wants from me.”

Hearing this; Glacier hesitates on drinking the rest of his juice. “... You’ll come back... Right?”

Satou simply rubs Glacier's head. “I’ll be back before the end of the day. So don’t worry, okay.”

“Oh o-okay.” Glacier mutters.

“Still; it may be best to have someone show you around your new home… Maybe I should have asked Eliza, if she could have done that.”

“That might have been a good idea, Master.” A voice response from behind him. Satou turns his head to find Frostine standing behind him.

“And here I thought you’d have come running before we even got out of here.” Satou says with a smirk as he turns to face Frostine.

“I would have been… but let's just say a certain guard needs to be taught a lesson.” Frostine says.

“Garret?”

“Pretty much.” Frostine says back with a smile.

“Why does that not surprise me?” Satou shook his head. “I’ll need to deal with it later.” Looking back to Frostine. “Anyway, I’m sorry to drop this on you but would you be able to show your brother around for me? I’ve got to have a meeting with Dainn.” Satou asks.

“How soon, Master?” Frostine asks as he stands beside him while Glacier is trying to look away, pulling his hood down over his eyes.

“I believe the term; “sooner rather than later” would be best.”

“Do you know what the meeting is about?” Frostine asks as she sits on an empty chair beside Satou.

“Well; we’re not scheduled for any training session today; to my knowledge, or any of the other things he’d asked me to do for that matter. So I don’t actually know why he needs me.” Satou thought out loud as Glacier carefully climbed off Satou’s lap then stood beside Frostine as Satou got up as well.

“So it could be anything?” Frostine question.

“Pretty much.” Satou says with a smile. “Hopefully it’s not something beyond what I can deal with.”

“I doubt it will be anything too strenuous.” Frostine says as Glacier grabs her hand, she smiles and goes to lift him up into her arms. “And don’t worry about us two. I’ll make sure he knows this place as well as I do before you get back.”

“I’ll hold you to that one...” Just as Satou was about to turn towards the door; he spoke up again. “And Glacier.”

“Y-yes.”

“Don’t cause her too much trouble.”

“I-I won’t. I promise.” Glacier says with a nervous chuckle.

“He couldn’t cause me any problems even if he tries.” Frostine retorts as she rubs the top of his head.

“We’ll see.” Satou says as he turns to the entrance and walks out the room, waving back to them as he did.

Half an hour after he left his home, Satou arrived at the door to the castle. The guards bow their heads before letting him pass with another one leading him through the castle. As he walks in the main hallway to the throne room; he sees only a small line waiting to see Dainn.

“I know you waited last time but Dainn wants to see you as soon as he can.” The guard explains as both walk past the line, sounds of annoyed groans coming from them as they pass them.

When they reach the door; the two guards waiting in front of it quickly turn around; pushing the door open before letting Satou and the guiding guard walk in. When they walk through; the door closes behind them.

As soon as he was inside; he saw Diann sitting on his throne chair, looking down at both a stallion and the mare. The mare’s body was covered in large wounds, her limbs bruised and swollen, in addition; what looks to be her right ear missing.

‘What in god's name happened to her?’ Satou thought.

‘I will make the assumption that that stallion standing over her has something to do with it.’ Enkvaros suggests.

‘I generally hope that is not the case.’ Satou hopes as he listens in to the conversation, seeing Diann's fist constantly clench at his side as he listens to the stallion with Sombra sitting beside him while hiding his fist from sight.

‘Wait… Isn’t that the mare one of the castle maids?’ Enkvaros asks.

‘Actually I think you're right, wasn’t she cleaning some of the rooms in the castle two days ago?’ Satou says in realization as he sees the blue collar around the mare's neck. He waits in silence.

After a minute of the stallion talking; he was uninterrupt by Dainn who shook his head before saying. “Let me get this straight. You are saying that this mare tries to run away from you?”

“Yes, she did; my king.” The stallion answers.

“So this mare who was working ran away from you, and you did this to her?”

“Yes.”

“A Blue collared mare who was working in my castle, ran away to continue with her job and you heavily injured her.”

“Y-yes.” The stallion says, his eyes darting down to the mare's collar as he realizes exactly where he stood.

“So… Is she your mare?”

“N-no.” The stallion says, his eyes widened in fear.

“I see.” Dainn says with a glare. He nods at two guards; one being a caribou and the other a stallion; walks up behind the stallion who is then forced down to the floor by both guards. “Your actions towards this mare will have repercussions that will cause many problems for me.”

Dainn looks at the mare again before noticing Satou. “Satou. Sorry to have to ask but can you help the poor mare as best as you can?”

“Of course.” Satou answers. Walking over to the injured mare, finding the stallion still gripping a leash tied to her collar. He stomps on the stallion's wrist who cries out in pain, releasing the leash. Satou took the leash, leading the mare to the side; away from sight.

‘She is not in good shape right now.’Satou thought to himself while looking over the mare. Finding not only injuries but also her having one black eye and the other was barely able to be opened.

“She’ll probably need someone to take a proper look at her injuries.” The guard standing beside Satou whispers as he looks from the mare to Satou.

“Wait… you actually care about her current state?” Satou asks in a hush tone.

“You know how the king is. You really think every guard under him is like everyone else you see?” The guard points out.

“I would say from what I keep seeing. I thought that was the case.” Satou admits, the mare looks up at them fearfully.

“Maybe we should help her instead of leaving her in this state?” The guard gets them back to the situation at hand.

“I think that was kinda the reason why the king asked us to do something.” Satou says before holding out his hand, the mare recoiling again before Satou whispers; “Aqua heal” as the familiar droplet of water drops onto the mare's head, causing some of the open wounds to heal; though there are still signs of a few bruises on her.

“Is that all you can do?”

“I’m not some miracle worker. I can only do so much with what I have.” Satou says, looking back at the guard. “I can only close her wounds, but the rest is beyond me right now.”

“So she’ll need a normal doctor for the rest?” The stallion guard asks, looking from the mare to Satou.

“Pretty much.”

“Well; once the king is done with him, I’ll get her to a doctor…. A sane doctor.” The guard adds for better clarification.

Satou pauses for a sec. “There are ‘sane’ doctors?”

“Believe it or not… there is one in the entirety of the empire.”

“That's one more than I expected.”

“That's what I said when the king suggested this one to me.” The guard points out.

“Wait. Dainn suggested the doctor you use for things like this?”

“Yes he did… how else do you think we can get the maids that work here treated safely?” The guard asks which Satou just nods back. They listen to Dainn who’s dealing with the stallion in front of him.

As soon as Dainn finishes shouting at the stallion; one of the two guards releases the bound stallion. The other now pushing him down, holding his head against the floor with one hand as he knelt on the stallions back, as the second reach into a pocket at his side and pulls out a small syringe filled with some bright pink glowing liquid which he lowers towards the stallions neck before injecting it into him, causing the stallion to thrash about on the floor, screaming the entire time before stopping. After that they drag him out of the room.

As soon as the two guards had left; the door closed behind them. Dainn looks back at Satou and the stallion who both were walking back into view. “Private Sentry. Could you do me a favour and take care of the mare... You know where to go.”

“Of course my king.” The guard bows his head before helping the mare up and both leaving the room.

For a moment silence; the place giving off a feeling of awkwardness.

Diann decides to speak first. “So… Are we having an awkward conversation and standing in silence in an attempt to avoid talking about what you just saw?” Dainn asks as he looks at Satou who is looking back as well.

“All I saw was some stallion being injected with something and getting dragged out.” Satou replies.

“Let's not mention what that was.” Dainn quickly says. Satou; however, gave a questioning glance. Dainn sighs in response. “You're not going to drop the question are you?”

“Not likely.” Satou responds with a smirk.

“Okay then.” Dainn says with a shake of his head. “It was some kind of experimental drug some of the ponies were working on. They claim that if it was injected into a male; it could change their gender but I’ve seen no evidence of that.”

Satou was going to say something but thought this through first. ‘Could that have been what they used on that Caribou that was turned into a female in my house?’ He looks back at Dainn before saying. “What tests have been done with that drug?”

“From what I have been told there was only a single test on a live subject before what you just saw.” Dainn admits. “But I don’t know the specifics of the test beyond; they don’t have the subject of it anymore and won’t disclose what happened to them.”

‘So chances are it was the same drug that they used.’ Satou thought to himself before shaking his head and looking back at Dainn. “Anyway, back onto the topic at hand. Why did you need me to come in? Has something gone wrong?”

“Well, we aren’t actually sure.” Dainn says as he stands up. “Since the latest wave, we have had no contact from the guards that were stationed on the border between us and Equestria.”

“Wait… Equestria is the country that borders ours?”

“Yes… Did you not know that it was?” Dainn asks.

“No. I don’t actually know much about anything beyond the empire and the areas I’ve visited before now.” Satou says. “I should probably get a look at a large map and learn more about the world beyond what I know.”

“Well I guess the task I called you for will help with what you need to learn then.” Dainn says with a chuckle. “I would like for you to head towards the border we have with Equestria and find out why we have no contact with them since the last wave.”

“Okay, two things…” Satou began to say but Dainn cut him off.

“We do have a map of the empire you can use to find the border and navigate across the empire and reach it.” Dainn reassures as Sombra walks towards him, handing him a rolled up piece of parchment. “Also on the map are a few small towns in the empire that I am aware of and a few you’ll want to avoid.”

“Why would I need to avoid some of them?” Satou asks, looking at Dainn in confusion.

“They are filled with Caribou that came here with me but decided to do what they wanted which includes attacking smaller settlements and kidnapping females from them, killing the inhabitants, looting the place or just simply going to… “indulge” them themselves and terrify those living there.” Dainn explains.

“So in other words they are the ones who give you all a bad name?”

“No… most of my kind do that ourselves.” Dainn adds with a dismissive wave. “But almost all of those groups are the ones who will likely start a war sooner or later to get more mares to abuse.”

“In other words, you think they will cross the border and start raiding Equestria for mares and cause problems here because of it.”

“Yes… I’m hoping they didn’t do something at the border. With that being the reason we’ve had no contact with them, if anyone from Equestria came to the border and they had control of it, anything we try to do will mean nothing.”

“First impressions are a hard thing to change after they’ve been made.”

“And ours is already bad enough, even if we didn’t cause it; considering their princess and prince that were here are in the cells under the castle.” Dainn theorized. “I still can’t understand why the entire empire turned on them even before we arrived here.”

“Wait… that wasn’t done by you?” Satou asks.

“Well… considering almost every civilian wanted their heads for some reason, that was the only way I could stop the rioting and save them both.” Dainn admits.

“So… the empire rose up against the former leaders as you arrived in the empire. If so; how did you come to lead it?”

“None of the others wanted to lead, and the Caribou who still cared about royal succession wanted me to lead them and those living here simply took it as an easy way out and put me in charge.”

“Well, at least you were able to avoid having to kill the former leaders because of it. I can’t imagine whoever rules Equestria would be happy if that wasn’t the case.”

“And I doubt they are happy about someone they didn’t put in charge running the empire either.” Dainn replies. “The former princess was one of their leader's nieces… So I technically currently have at least one member of the Equestrian royal family as a prisoner which is not a good thing if they ever visit here.”

“At some point, you will need to do something with them both, if you keep them like that and the leaders of this Equestria place find out it will not end well.” Satou points out.

“I know… but if I just release them to the public that could cause more harm than good if the original stance by the ponies that were here before us is anything to go by and sending them across the border to Equestria will spell trouble here.” Dainn says. “There was something the scientists were talking about trying on the prince behind my back though.”

“Do you have any idea what they are planning to do to him?” Satou asks.

“They said something about a test based on the effect of the Crystal Cock on the male genome under constant close contact.”

“So, if what you heard is correct, then they want to use him as a test subject in some sort of experiment, to see if it could be possible to force a drastic change on someone who is unwilling to see females as anything less than objects.” Satou questions about his theory.

“I think it may be part of what they want to achieve, but I can’t be sure if that is the aim or not.” Dainn responds.

‘If it is what they want; that puts Shining Armour in a lot of trouble, but if that is the case, where does Cadence stand?’ Satou thought to himself.

“It’s only a matter of time till they try something on the princess, and if that happens we are in real trouble in the future.” Dainn admits as he walks towards Satou, holding a second rolled up piece of parchment in his hand which he hands it to Satou before leaning in and whispers. “Do not let what is on that get seen by anyone else beyond yourself.”

“What even is this?”

“I’ll leave you to decide what to do with it and I won’t say any more.” Dainn says vaguely. “As for the trip to the border, I would recommend stocking up on any supplies you could need for the trip today and start to leave early tomorrow morning.”

“Thank you for your suggestion. I will try to get myself prepared for the journey and head off tomorrow morning at the latest.” Satou says with a smile and turns to leave.

“Oh and before I forget, if you need it and; I doubt you do; you can ‘acquire’ some spare weapons. Weapons in case you need them, not sure what state yours are in right now.” Dainn brings up with a smirk.

“I’ll keep that in mind.” With that; Satou turns back to Dainn, bowing his head before leaving the castle and heading into the town.

Chapter 18

Back at the mansion; just outside at the training ground, Eliza is having a practice session with Frostine. The android woman had finished her head maid duties in the morning and wanted to get some training in before more work shows up. So she requested Frostine to come in for another training session. She’s chosen not to use her full power just so she can use a wooden sword she crafted during her free time.

Frostine; however, she isn’t getting much better than when she started. Frostine has been making herself wide open with her inexperience in combat, resulting in Eliza hitting her exposed areas with fluid motions. Everytime Frostine got hit; Eliza reminded her to not leave herself open and gave suggestions.

At this point Frostine is aching everywhere in her body. Despite having scales it didn’t protect her like dragon scales; to her misfortune.

Eliza sighs, putting away the wooden sword. “I think that’s enough for today.” Walking up to Frostine, who’s sitting on the ground; trying to catch her breath. She held out a hand to Frostine; who gladly took it, pulling herself back to her feet. “Hope you learn from this.”

“W-What Am I doing wrong?” Frostine asks, still breathing hard; trying to catch her breath.

“I keep telling you. Your posture and stance is sloppy and not helping you react to defending.” Eliza says. “You need to work on that. Which is why you're working on that during your spare time.”

“But it clearly doesn’t work for me. It’s a habit I picked up when I was first learning in my old village.” Frostine argues back while crossing her arms, scowling at Eliza.

“Then break out of that habit. For the future of your kind.” Eliza says right back before walking back to the house with Frostine following behind.

“Oh yeah a kingdom with only one living woman of their race remaining in it. All that means is I need to end up having enough children to repopulate it all by myself, and it’s either with the idiots in the old guard or my own little brother if I want a pure member of my race, or to follow my own feelings and try for the one male in this world who even remotely seems to care about me. What a great choice I have to make.” Frostine sarcastically.

“Look. You're their only hope to save the lizardman kind.” The young android women open the door for them to get inside. Both stepping inside, Eliza closes the door behind them. “But anyways-” She starts to say when she lost balance and had to grab onto a railing to support herself, her head felt dizzy.

“Are you okay?” Frostine asks with a nervous tone; walking up to Eliza, holding her hand out to her.

Eliza waves her off. “I-I’m fine…” She reassures Frostine as she regains her composure. ‘That’s weird…’

“Are you sure… maybe you just need a bit of rest.” Frostine suggests, worry still on her face.

“I’m sure… Anyways; as I was saying, how is Glacier holding up?” Eliza asks Frostine.

Meanwhile at Canterlot Castle…

At the throne room; a court is being held at this time. Several ponies are there with two talking about their predicament. However; one is different from everyone there…

Sitting on the throne is a tall, white anthropomorphic mare. She wore a white silk strapless dress, the skirt reaching down below her knees. Wore a gold necklace around her neck; the accessory having seven color gems of the rainbow, and two sets of silver rings around both wrists. On her feets are high knees, white veil stockings with a white slip-in high heel shoes.

The mare is none other than Princess Celestia. Celestia sat in her throne, carefully listening to the two nobles about their problems they’ve been having. Deciding who’s store is better.

The door was suddenly flung open as a unicorn in golden armour ran into the door; instantly grabbing the attention of the ponies in the room, stopping just behind the arguing nobles. “Message from northern Equestria. I’m sorry to say that we have had another report of a town being destroyed. We believe the raid came from… the Frozen North!”

Celestia’s expression is shock at the news before stating to the ponies. “I’m afraid the day court will be ending at an early time. Court adjourns!” Celestia states, resulting everypony who has come for court starts leaving the room.

As soon as the last noble steps out, the door closes. Letting Celestia get to the real problem at hand, look directly at the guard. “What do you have to report?” She asks calmly.

“We receive a report from a citizen in one of the towns within Frozen North, claiming to see the town in flames from a distance. And when he got closer; they found an unfamiliar race of creatures alongside crystal ponies, holding down everyone in the town and forcing something around their necks… And others are doing rather… unspeakable acts to any mare or filly they could find while others were taken away. We don’t know the fates of them or if the claims are true though.” The guard reports before adding. “We also don’t know if this is linked to the other report from a few weeks ago.”

“Just as I fear. This has been getting worse every day.” Celestia mutters to herself, trying to figure out what's going on. She hasn’t heard from Cadence or Captain Shining Armor after their departure to the Crystal Empire. ‘Could something have happened? Possibly, my niece would have sent a letter when they got there if it weren’t...’

“Anything else?” Celestia asks the guard.

“Sadly no. We haven’t received anything from the empire in recent weeks nor have we located a single missing pony from the other incidents.” The guard replies with a sad tone. “Sadly I don’t know if we can keep the disappearances hidden from the public for much longer.”

“Hmm… Then it’s time to send Them out…” Celestia mutters. ‘But should I trust them with the task… They are just strangers, but what more can I do?’ Refocus back on her company; Celestia continues. “Please tell my sister to come to me as soon as possible. And let her know that I… consider her idea, she knows what I’m talking about.”

“Of course.” The guard replies with a bow of his head before heading out to find Princess Luna.

When the door close; Celestia releases a sigh. “I hope this is the best decision.”

Eliza had split away from Frostine to get back to work. Doing some cleaning on the top floor, polishing the wooden railings and sweeping the ground. She’s been having some problems with her walking.

Eliza is just cleaning the last part of the railing, when suddenly her head fuzzy again but stronger. Reflexively; Eliza grabs the railing for support, reaching her free hand to her head. “H… help…” She calls out tiredly, her eyes rolling back in her head and falling to the ground unconscious.

A minute later; a young lizardman walks up the stairs only to halt at the sight of Eliza's unconscious form. Startled by this; he ran up to Eliza’s, shaking her only to get no response. “That's not a good sign.” Glacier mutters as he fidgets on the spot; looking around frantically before running back to the stairs and going out of sight, leaving Eliza alone for only a bit longer.

After that time; Glacier returns with Frostine by his side.

“And you found her collapsed, you said?” She asks as Glacier stood at the top of the stairs. Her eyes look back forward and see Eliza. At the sight she ran over to her quickly, kneeling down and checking over Eliza.

“I told her; she should have rested when she collapsed earlier.” Frostine mutters as she carefully picks the unconscious android up into her arms before looking back at Glacier. “Could you get a few damp cloths and one of the first aid kits that I keep in the kitchen? Bring them to me. We’ll be in my room.” Glacier didn’t speak and gave a simple nod before running off to gather what he had been asked to collect. With that; Frostine slowly carries Eliza in her arms towards her room.

Frostine reaches her room, opening the door while trying to hold onto the young woman in her arms.

As she reaches the bed she carefully places Eliza down on it, covering her in the blankets, before placing the back of her hand on the top of her head.

“Why does she keep collapsing? Whatever the reason is, I don’t think it’s good.” Frostine thought to herself as she looked at Eliza’s unconscious form.

“You keep putting so much focus on others, but you never seem to focus on yourself. I suppose you and Satou are the same in that regard. I suppose that's one of the things that caused me to fall for him the way I did.” Frostine says as she places a hand on her belly. “And I really have fallen for him.”

Not wanting to stand; she walks over to a nearby chair, moving it right beside the bed before sitting down. “You said that I am the last hope for my kind… But they need both a king and a queen to lead them... Honestly; I don’t think I’m cut out for the role of queen and nobody but you seems to believe I am.”

Reaching down to touch the unconscious girl's hair; her fingers moving through strands of hair. “If I were to become queen, I would still need to marry someone to be my king. And honestly; that either only leaves Garrett; who would get everyone killed. My own little brother; who I really don’t want to have to do That with. Or the one male I actually have feelings for... But even then, I don’t know if it would be possible for me and him to have a child with each other...” She thought about that for a bit, looking down at her own body. “And... Does he even Want someone like me to be That to him?”

Frostine looks back to Eliza. “I know we joked about you and him being like that and I doubt you would even want it, but… He cares for us all, and I know he’d be worried for you if this is something serious but...” She hesitates; seemingly unsure.

“We all need you. Even if he did have to choose between us, I feel like he wouldn’t want to make that choice.” Frostine says before placing her head against Eliza’s. “What should I do? I don’t know how to go about my feelings for him or even for you.”

She moved her head away from Eliza’s. “I need your help, just like always! but...” She took a short breath. “I just wish, just for once; that you would tell us what was happening to you, So we could all help you for once.”

Frostine gave a slow breath, shaking her head. “I bet I’ve said all this stuff and you can’t even hear me anyway... I guess I’ll need to confront my feelings for Satou when he eventually comes back! And maybe, finally, pluck up the courage to tell him how I feel.” She smiles at the thought. “But; till he does, I need to look after you.”

It had been a few hours since Satou had left from his meeting with Dainn, during which he had ventured to the barrack and picked up a few extra weapons on the off chance anyone needed them.

He had also visited many of the stores in town, picking up everything from food, to a few low quality healing potions that were being sold in the market, along with a new map and compass from one of the other stores in case anyone else needed one.

Once he had finished collecting everything he believed he would need for the trek towards the border; he made his way back to the mansion.

Arriving at the front door; he slowly walks up to it, opening the door before walking inside.

As soon as he enters the house he sees Night Twister waiting as he bows to Satou. “Welcome home my lord, I hope your visit to the palace was eventful.” He says with his normal smile as he looks around Satou. “I see you haven't returned with anyone new this time.”

“Not this time, no.” Satou says. Looking around, finding almost everyone in the main hall being much slower than they normally were. Many of them seem to be looking around nervously, almost seeming unsure as to what to do. “Has something happened while I was gone?”

“Well, I suppose Lady Eliza did collapse upstairs an hour ago and had been unconscious since.” Night Twister replies, his voice calm. “Glacier found her and both he and Frostine have been caring for her since. If you wish I can show you where they are so you can check on her condition yourself.”

“I would be grateful.” Satou says quickly, his voice clearly worried for Eliza.

“If that is the case, please follow me.” Night Twister says as he turns towards the stairs and begins walking up them while Satou follows closely behind.

Once Satou reaches the door to Frostine’s room, Night Twister moves to the side before saying. “They are inside, I will wait out here in case you need me for anything.”

Satou didn’t respond, simply nodding his head before opening the door. Looking inside and finding Frostine sitting on a chair with Glacier standing beside her. On the bed laying under the covers is Eliza who out like a light, a wet cloth was placed over her forehead.

“Why do I get a feeling something weird is going on?” Satou thought to himself; walking towards the bed. Frostine turns her head from his steps before noticing him.

“Satou! Do you have any idea what happened to her! She just collapsed!” Frostine shouts in worry.

Kneeling beside the ground, Satou looks over Eliza before shaking his head. “I have no idea what is wrong. But it can’t be normal considering this is her. I will try to look into it but it would help if you could tell me what she was doing when it happened.”

“Well, we don’t know ourselves.” Glacier says honestly. “I was walking upstairs and found her like this.”

“So we can’t even work out what the cause is?” Both Glacier and Frostine shook their heads at Satou's question. “That's just great.”

“... Wait…” Frostine as she suddenly realizes something. “She did almost fall over earlier as well, she did pass it off as feeling a bit dizzy but I thought something was off at the time.”

“Can you tell me anything else?” Satou asks curiously.

“Not off the top of my head.” Frostine replies with a shake of her head.

“Well… I think just for now it would be best for someone to keep an eye on her. Can I trust the two of you to do that for now?” Satou asks.

“Of course!” Frostine answers with a smile.

“I’ll do my best!” Glacier adds with his usual kind smile as he looks up at Satou.

“I know you both will.” Satou replies while shaking his head. “for now I will leave you both. I have to prepare for a task the king has asked me to do.”

“What has he asked of you?” Frostine asks with curious eyes.

“He has asked me to visit the border between the Empire and Equestria. Supposedly he has had no contact from them since the last wave and is fearing something has happened. He wanted to find out the truth and then report back with anything that needs passing on.”

“So you may be gone for a while?” Glacier asks.

“I don’t know specifically how far it is to the border or how long it would take however once I reach the border I have a spell to bring me back quickly so it would only need to be a one way trip on foot… or cart… or however I choose to go.”

“It would likely be best to go by cart my lord.” Night Twister recommends from the doorway. “I know there was a train that came this way but for some reason it stopped coming to the empire a few days after the caribou arrived. We don’t know the reason though.”

“So I’ll likely need to prepare the cart to make my way there.” Satou mutters to himself. “So it would probably be best to take Filo with me in that case.”

“If it would please you my lord, I would be honoured to join you on your journey.” Night Twister states as he knelt down on one knee with his head bowed in front of Satou. “I would also gladly make sure everything is prepared for our departure.”

Satou pauses in thought for a moment lost in thought. ‘I don’t really see an issue in him joining me.’

‘And I am curious to see how competent he is with his skills.’ Enkvaros says before adding. ‘His status showed him to be a summoner but I have yet to see what he can do.’

“I see no harm in you joining me. It might be good to have some company on my travels.” Satou says.

“In that case I will make sure the cart is prepared with enough supplies to last me, you and Filo for at least a couple days. Just tell me when we will be departing and I will ensure we are prepared to leave at the desired time.” Night Twister responds.

“We will be leaving tomorrow morning.” Satou states.

“Then I will make sure we are ready to leave before sunrise tomorrow my lord.” Night Twister says calmly as he rises to his feet before leaving the room, beginning his own preparations.

“Well that at least sorts that part out. I suppose I can really rest for today then.” Satou gave a single, calm breath but stopped as the feeling of someone tugging on his sleeve. Looking down to see Glacier looking up at him.

“Umm… do you mind if I join you?” Glacier asks Satou nervously.

“Can I ask why you want to?”

“I was wanting to see the area beyond this place again.” Glacier admits.

“And If I remember correctly our home was in that direction as well.” Frostine adds. “Maybe it would be a good idea for us both to join you… I would at least like to place a memorial to the fallen people of my home. There is one place I wish to visit one last time.”

“But someone needs to look after Eliza and I thought you would want to do that.”

“I do… but I don’t think I will get many chances to go back home and pay my respects.” Frostine says honestly. “Besides; I can find someone who could take care of her in the meantime.”

They heard footsteps and turned to see; just at the doorway; is Marble Stone. Stepping inside the room and seeing them looking at her, she speaks up. “If you need someone to keep an eye on her then I will do it. She is my teacher after all.”

“Are you sure you don’t mind?” Frostine asks Marble curiously.

“I wouldn’t mind Mrs.Frostine.” She says as her eyes loom over her teacher's unconscious form. “You have an opportunity to go out there, and I don’t doubt Mrs.Eliza would want you too either.”

“But with her like this, you are already going to be struggling with this place, are you sure you can all spare me, to go and do this right now?”

“... Frostine, pardon if I sound offensive but, you haven’t really done anything around the house. I always see you following Satou, training with Eliza recently or just taking care of Glacier.” Marble tells Frostine. “Trust me; I can handle taking care of Eliza.”

“But…” Frostine began to say but stopped, looking at Satou then back to Marble.

“No buts.” Marble says with a stern face. “Now go before I change my mind.”

“But… fine.” Frostine sighs in defeat. “I suppose I need to get everything sorted as well.”

Satou just smiles at the group heading towards the door. “Well I’ll head out. I would just ask that one of you tells Night Twister that you are both going as well.”

“Of course master!” Frostine replies with a smile as Satou leaves the room, closing the door behind him.

As Satou walks through the halls; everyone seems to be moving around slightly slower than they normally would.

‘I guess Eliza does help motivate them all quite a lot. Although they are moving faster than I thought they would considering that she is currently unconscious.' Satou thought as he walked through the hallway with his hands in his pockets.

This continues for a couple of minutes until he sees Isaac walk around a corner, the young boy seeming to be looking around frantically before his eyes land on Satou.

“Dad!” Isaac shouts. He ran towards Satou before skidding to stop in front of him before leaning over, panting from running. “I’m sorry... to bother you... but... I need to show you... something!”

Satou calmly says. “Isaac, take a breath first.” The young boy slowly nods his head as he takes a few slow breaths. “Better?”

“Better.” Isaac replies.

“Good. Now; what do you need to show me?”

“I was walking in town earlier and found some sort of weird door. I tried to open it but I got a message that told me I was too low of a level to open it.” Issac informs. “I think it said something about being level 30 to open it.”

‘Is there some kind of dungeon under the empire that he found?’ Satou thought before looking back at Isaac who stood up after regaining his breath. “Do you have any ideas what could be behind it?”

“No.” Isaac tries to answer with a shake of his head. “But… I thought considering it was a level cap, it may require either some kind of fight inside, and that I might have needed some help.”

“Well, can you show me where you found the door?” Satou asks.

“Yes, follow me!” Isaac shouts again as he quickly grabs Satou’s hand. Moving to run ahead only to find himself being unable to do so as Satou remained planted in place. “Are you not coming?”

“Yes. But there's no need to run and tire yourself out, in case we do need to fight in there.” Satou points out. “Now, show me there but take your time.”

“O-Okay.” Isaac says with a nervous look, rubbing the back of his head before slowly walking forwards. Still holding onto Satou’s hand as he led Satou out the house towards the town.

When the duo got to the edge of the cities; Issac took Satou to what looks to be a long slope going downward into a cave with cracked stones that resembles stairs leading downwards towards a large metal door at the end. The cave walls look to have intricate designs of graffiti, unfortunately whatever the images had depicted in the past looks to have faded over time.

“The weird door is at the end here.” Isaac says as he grabs his bow from his back, his hand slightly shaken as he is.

“Are you nervous?” Satou asks as he rubs Isaac's head.

“A-A bit.” Isaac slight stutters. “It's just… if this is something like a dungeon with monsters inside, I feel like I may be holding you back.”

‘Well we don’t exactly know what’s down there.’ Satou thought to himself before looking at Isaac. “Don’t worry. Besides, if we are in a party and there are high level monsters in here, if we do beat them we both gain XP from it.”

“I guess. But it will feel like I'm just leaching XP from you.” Isaac admits.

Satou just chuckled while moving to the big door. “Isaac, remember one thing for me.”

“What is it?” Isaac asks as he looks up at Satou.

“When I said I would take you in as my own son, I made the choice to become as close to a father as I could for you. That means that I’m making sure you can survive is one of my highest priorities. And if it means helping you get stronger by sharing what little XP I gain to do that then I will gladly do so.” Satou took a few steps before stopping, looking back over his shoulder. “So if you ever need any help just ask for it, I’m not going to say no.”

Isaac remains in place before slowly taking a step forward, wiping one of his sleeves over his eyes as some tears escape his eyes before standing beside Satou. “I-I’ll make sure I-I do dad.”

“Good.” Satou says, once again rubbing the top of Isaac’s head for a bit before looking down the pathway to the door.

He saw an image appear on his map of a door with the name and info:

“Unknown Dungeon”

“At least one member of your party must be level 30 to enter this dungeon.”

He looks back at Isaac who was still hiding his face from him. Placing his hand on the back of the young boy's head before kneeling down beside him, pulling him towards his chest. “Isaac. If you're upset about anything; you can tell me.”

“I-I’m not upset.”

“You sure?”

“Y-Yes, I- I- I’m f-fine. I-” Isaac stutters to try and say before openly crying again as he holds himself close to Satou.

“It’s fine, let it all out.” Satou reassures Isaac as he rubs the side of his head while holding him close. “Just tell me what's wrong okay.”

“N-nothing’s w-wrong. I-I’m just happy thats all.” Isaac slowly says between his sobs. “I-its just that; nobody h-has e-ever wanted t-to help me before.”

“Well, I will do...” Satou replies simply as he grabs Isaac’s hand. Slowly walking them both to the bottom of the stairs, stepping to the side once they reach the top.

As soon as they did, he sat on the ground with Isaac sitting down in front of Satou. The young boy had stayed close to Satou’s chest, an arm wrapped around the young boy’s body. “We’ll take as long as you need before we go in, so get it all out of your system.”

“O-Okay.” With that; Isaac returns to openly cry, his words becoming impossible to make out through his sobs.

This went on for five minutes when he finally calmed down.

Satou heard him still muttering something under his breath. Leaning in closer to hear Isaac muttering. “I-I’m glad I met you dad, please just don’t leave like my old one.”

“I won’t Isaac.” Satou states kindly as he kisses Isaac on the forehead. “I’ll be here for as long as you need me, and that's a promise.”

Isaac slowly moves to sit straight up as he looks up at Satou, his nose still running and his eyes bloodshot as he brings his sleeve back to his face; wiping his tears away. “T-Thank you, Dad.”

“Not a problem. Are you feeling better now?”

“Y-Yes.” Isaac answers, slowly begins to smile before speaking up. “S-Satou… Thank you for becoming my dad. I’m really glad I met you.”

Satou just smiles back once again, rubbing Isaac’s head. “Same goes for you!” Getting a massive grin from Isaac then hugs Satou tightly.

This took for a few seconds before a message appears in the corner of Satou’s vision that read:

“Title acquired: Beloved Father”

‘Why am I not surprised that one appeared?’ Satou thought while looking at Isaac who’s still hugging Satou tightly.

“Isaac, you ready to get moving?” Satou asks as he rubs Isaac’s head again.

“Yes, I’m ready!” Isaac says enthusiastically with a grin on his face as he jumps to his feet almost running down the stairs towards the dungeon door.

‘At times I almost forget that he’s only a 10 year old boy. Then he turns into an emotional wreck and cries like a baby in my arms for a while.’ Satou thought to himself as he grins. Forgotten what level Isaac is currently; he pulls up Isaac’s level to see him now being at level 25. He got up as well before slowly walking down the stairs behind him. ‘Still I wonder how he will handle any monsters we find in here.’

Once Satou reached the bottom of the stairs he looked down at Issac who was gripping his bow tightly, this time his arms not shaking. “Are you sure you're ready to go in?” Satou asks once again.

“Yeah. I’m ready.” Isaac says with a nod of his head.

“Okay then.” With that; Satou moves up to the door, pushing his hand against the door. A message appears in front of him with two buttons, one green and the other being red.

‘Are you sure you wish to enter?’

‘Yes or No?’

Satou took a single, deep, calm breath before mentally clicking the green button. With that choice; the door began to glow in a faint; white hue. The message fades and is replaced with another message.

‘Location: Hourglass Room’

‘The hourglass room? Could that relate to that Dragon Hourglass thing in that book I read?’ Satou thought to himself as he walked into the room with Isaac following close behind.

As soon as the duo began walking forwards; unseen old style torches lit up in a straight line along the walls. The torch had flames but were green in colour with a thick purple smoke that drifted to the floor.

“This doesn’t seem natural.” Isaac states as he slowly moves closer to Satou, his eyes darting around the corridor before looking forward at the inner tunnel heading deeper inside. The smoke almost making the path ahead seem to never end.

“I can actually agree.” Satou says as he looks into the smoke ahead of them. “Almost like this was made to be some kind of trap for those who wander in here.”

“But who made it then?” Isaac asks, looking around the corridor.

The smoke looks to be slowly making a path smaller and smaller, almost like the walls are moving closer to them.

“Well, I don’t know of any creature who has any kind of magic that matches the colour of those torches.” Satou admits.

“Well Diann's personal pet does have green eyes… and that smoke that comes from her eyes does match the smoke here… She could have something to do with it.” Isaac suggests.

“You think Sombra did this?”

“It’s possible right? I mean we don’t have much else to go on to say otherwise.” Isaac points out. “But still what is causing this?”

“I don’t know...” Satou responds as he looks up towards the roof ahead of him, seeing a single flickering red light that appears to be at the far end of the room.

He pauses at that before looking to the floor, finding a heart shaped image in a box on the floor before taking three more steps forwards before looking down again to find the same image again. “Wait… have we even moved?”

“Of course we have.” Isaac replies only to find himself still next to Satou when he takes a few steps forward. “Wait… Why didn’t I pass you?”

“Hmm... I wonder.” Satou mutters as he reaches for his pistol, raising it towards the flickering light before pausing when spotting multiple purple lights around the room.

His eyes began moving around the room, following each flashing light before lifting his gun towards the purple light and firing at it. As soon as the shot hit its mark; the light flashes brightly for a moment before blinking out, another purple light lit up around them.

As each light shone, Satou quickly went to fire the new light, getting the same result from before. With that he fires each one until there is only a red light and purple light left. Smoke began to slowly dissipate, the last purple light glowing brightly while the red light was now barely visible.

He then looks back at the last purple light and focuses, aiming right at it before shooting it; destroying it. At that moment Satou heard something hit the floor ahead of them.

Everything went quiet for a moment as the thick smoke completely dispersed, the green flames turning into regular, red flames. “... I wonder what all those lights I hit were?”

“No idea;” Isaac took a step forward to see if he could move around again. Sees that he can move as he passes by Satou. “but whatever you did it worked.”

“Even still...” Satou mutters. ‘There is more to this place than first meets the eye.’

Satou looks at the walls, finding bullet holes in strange yet familiar symbols engraved on it.

“I swear I’ve seen this somewhere else… but where?” Satou thought to himself as he checked on another place on the wall he had shot at, finding the same image repeating there as well.

“Dad! I found something!” Isaac shouts back that Satou comes back to his senses. Quickly walking over to him. As soon as Satou got near the young boy he found something odd. What he saw is a small, red gemstone. “What do you think this thing is?”

“I don’t know; but… Could it be used on your bow?”

“I don’t actually know.” Isaac looks unsure as he holds over the gemstone at the centre of the bow, the bow centre changes into a large golden disc which Isaac placed the stone on.

Isaac remained silent for a moment before saying. “Well… I can at least tell you what this is.”

“And that is?”

“A magic gemstone.” Isaac answers plainly. “More specifically; it creates illusions in a large area around it.” He held the red gemstone over the gem in his bow before letting it go. The gemstone fell into the rune; it almost seemed to twist and distort before fading into the weapon as it seemed to merge with the bow's gem.

“Well?”

“Well… it worked, it says I unlocked something from it.” Isaac says before looking at his skill tree to know what it does. “Looks like a bow that has a dark based attribute to it, and a skill called ‘Illusion Veil’ it seems to work like a smokescreen, but has the added effect of putting anyone inside it under an illusion of some kind.”

“So it’s another support skill?”

“Pretty much… All I need is a healing arrow and I act as a complete ranged support package. But I still can’t do a lot of damage.”

With their conversation done; they continue further through the tunnel until reaching a door. As they got closer and closer; the door slowly opened up on its own. Thinking that something is letting them in, they walk right through.

Right as they walked through the doorway they saw themselves in a large open room. The walls looked to be cracked and poorly maintained stones that were covered in torches like those that had adorned the corridor. There used to be large stone podiums but have crumbled and fallen to the ground with whatever would have been on them having either been removed or destroyed.

In the center of the room is a large ornate hourglass that’s; strangely enough, didn't look in a state of disrepair like the rest of the room.

The hourglass-like object looks to have five segments orbs connected together; two larger ones at both top and bottom, two medium size ones at the neck and between the middle is a single small glass orb; each filled with sand that’s moving between them.

Surrounding the hourglass are two metal figures of yellow gold dragons flying up at a distance away from the hourglass, facing away. They’re tails stretch in odd turns with two more trails acting the dragons air drift trail from the hourglass base.

“Why does this thing look familiar?” Satou mutters to himself. Reaching into his bag, he pulls out one of the scrolls as he unrolls it.

“It’s a Dragon Hourglass.” Isaac responds to Satou’s thought. “I didn’t think something like that would be hidden away down here.”

“Why not?” Satou asks as he turns his head to Isaac.

“Well, from what Nathen explained to me, the hourglasses could tell us when the next wave would occur, and teleport us to where the wave is taking place. I wasn’t told the specifics of how, but he said you need to ‘register’ yourself with it to be able to teleport using it.”

“So you all found this place before to get to the last wave?”

Isaac just shook his head at that. “No. We were just near the last wave’s location when it started. We never found an hourglass in this world before this one.”

“Well if this thing just tells you when the next wave could occur, and that being all it does; then why would it be locked away under here when you would want to know that information?” Satou asks.

“Well… He did say that they are also used by normal people to ‘class up’.”

“Class up? What do you mean?” Satou asks before thinking. ‘If it sounds like what I’m thinking it must be a way for normal people to gain specialised classes or skills.’

“Well, I don’t know much but it was something to do with people's job classes. I do know they basically allow you to change to specialized roles but I don’t know more than that.” He walks towards the hourglass, holding his bow up slightly before a yellow line of light is formed between the hourglass middle orb section and the gem in Isaac’s bow.

“Well that was…” Isaac began to say before slowly backing up his arm shaking. “Oh no.”

“Isaac. What's wrong?”

Isaac turned to Satou, a terrified look clear in his eyes. “Dad… It’s coming.”

“It’s coming? What is coming?”

“The next wave… in just under 2 days.”

An Hour Ago...

At one of the villages; nearest to the mountain, and on said mountain has something that just woke up.

In a dark, damp cave, the sound of shifting echoes in the cavern. What woken opened its eyes to reveal glowing; yellow slit eyes. It stares at the village from afar as snow falls from the sky, the sound of something dragging follow up with the noise as whatever it is growls.

[To Be Continued…]

Chapter 10 (Rewritten)

Author's Note

Thank you for the Crossover, Switchlock, to show our appreciation we will have a link to your story ‘Space Magician Cat’. Thank you and thank you readers for reading this far!

This is the first of four parts to this crossover and we hope you enjoyed it.

Chapter 10 (Rewritten)

Four days after everyone had moved into their home. Satou, Isacc, Eliza and Frostine had left the Crystal Empire and ventured back to the Frosted Valley to help gather resources for Isaac’s bow; along with helping them all to level themselves up.

The day before they left; however, Dainn had traded some of the Silver collars Satou had received for red and black. Of which Satou had stored in his bag, was ordered to use them to capture anything that either attacked him or wished to become his slave.

They had been out in the valley for a day, having camped in a nearby cave for the night. Using this as a chance to get more training in as possible.

During one of their expeditions into the valley, the group took a break. Satou stood nearby guarding, watching for any monsters while the others used any Potions they had to recover. His eyes were glancing around when something caught his eyes.

Satou turned to his right to find a strange object on the ground snow. After a few seconds, he walked towards the object, kneeling down and picked it up. Standing back up, he slowly turned it in his hands.

The object was a small device, one that appeared to be designed like a gun, but without anything suggesting it needed ammo. The design seemed to be a little different though, as the handle and trigger was holding technology on both ends, each part holding some strange ball of tech at the end.

‘What the hell is this thing?’ Satou thought to himself. His thoughts halted, witnessing a dim white and baby blue lights across the device, before displaying a hard light window to him. It looked to be a contract of sorts.

By signing this contract, I do hereby agree to a mutual contract with the displaced known as Sonya Rose, to whom I pledge a vow to protect the weak from those who would seek to harm them. As a member of the Protectorate, I accept this Matter Manipulator and the responsibilities that come with it as an agent of Justice.

Alert: To seal this contract, you must meet the contractor in a time-independent pocket dimension first. Please click accept to set up a meeting.

“Okay… I have a lot of questions about this one… and I doubt I’ll find out anything without signing it and asking this “Sonya”.” Satou said to himself before clicking the accept button. “... So… What now.”

Time began to slow around him. He could see falling snowflakes begin to stop in mid-air. A wall of white nothingness enclosed on him. Once it reached him, he was left sitting in an office-like space in front of a bipedal feline woman whose four tails sat idly behind her. She was in uniform, her vest showing a symbol like the device Satou had just seen, with wings. Her face had a calm expression, paired with a sapphire embedded in her forehead which seemed to glow slightly. Her blue eyes were focused entirely on him.

"Congratulations. You are the first to have found my token. I'll admit it caught me off guard, but nonetheless, welcome to the interview." The cat; presumably Sonya; greeted.

“Thanks… I guess.” Satou responded nervously, rubbed the back of his head. Sonya smiled and got down to business.

"Now then. If you want to use the Matter Manipulator as more than a means of summoning me, I'll need to evaluate you as a potential Protector. If you'd like to know, it allows for matter storage, quick weapon switching, instant crafting at the associated crafting areas, as well as a means to access teleportation networks. Would you like to join the Protectorate, or simply have me as a contact?" She asked.

“Back up a second… I have no idea what you mean by the Protectorate, and a potential protector of what?” Satou asked curiously.

"Ah. The Protectorate is my little organisation of intergalactic peacekeepers. It's our job to protect the innocent, at any cost we deem necessary. A Protector's greatest call to fame is overthrowing a tyrant." Sonya explained.

‘This is going to be awkward.’ Satou thought to himself. “I see. What would joining your group entail?”

"Essentially, making your world, or even universe; assuming you can achieve space flight, a better place. It will also grant you license to use weapons in areas that typically don't allow it, be it in your world or others."

“Okay. I think I understand what you mean.” Satou responded. “Is there anything else I need to know before we start?”

"Not really. I think I've covered the basics, so let's begin. What kind of situation are you in back home? I'd like to know, so I can get a feel for the general morality of the world." She opened with.

“I can’t comment on the entire world… But from what I know of it, I wouldn’t say it’s great.” Satou responded. She raised an eyebrow.

"How “not good”? Are we talking apocalypse? Seven deadly sins? Planet gonna blow up?" She asked. She was insistent.

“How do you place, an extreme lack of Human rights between an entire race, in the favour of a single-sex?” Satou asked. She leaned back, nodding in understanding.

"Ah, slavery. In essence, seven deadly sins category. And if it's worldwide, how is it you plan to protect the innocent? As I understand it, it's a hard world to handle." Sonya asked. She seemed to have her answer, or at least somewhat of an idea of what Satou's answer might be.

“If I could tell you an answer to that I would. I know simply cutting off the head isn’t an option, it could just lead to someone worse taking the guys place. The best way I was going with, was to influence the guy in control and manipulate his choices to reduce the risk to those innocents.” Satou responded, then added. “I know that it’s not the best option, but with the limited knowledge of the world I’m in, it’s the best option I have right now. Violence only breeds more violence after all.”

"Wise. I myself would not be equipped to handle this situation as you could. Everyone has their own means of resolving this. While my method certainly would not be easy, I would have begun with a simple strike to the root of the problem. How long do you think your method might take?" She asked.

“I don’t exactly have a timeline… I mean I am very close with the man leading the group. But he isn’t exactly the issue, he’s bound by laws he can’t get rid of.” Satou admitted.

Sonya seemed to think this over. "I get it. You need to find the heart before you can strike it, right? I guess that's not as easy as I thought. The matter Manipulator should help, at least. It can generate waypoints and an active map of the area as you travel, and you can keep a copy of all your notes and objectives in the codex feature."

“If I get it working that is.” Satou responded. “But even if it was their leader that was the issue, without the belief of those that follow their leader, all it would cause is the distrust of those around me, and a grapple for power from others who want it.” Satou responded calmly. “When there is a peaceful solution that doesn’t require the death of someone else, I would rather protect the lives of everyone rather than sacrifice someone who could potentially do good for the world.”

Sonya leaned back in her chair. "And yet sometimes death is necessary. There exist those for whom change is impossible without completely destroying who they are, and rewriting them into an entirely different person. Is that not a form of death in itself?"

“And you make people that can do that sound like the ultimate serial killers.” Satou responded while rubbing the back of his head.

"Whether they are or aren't is a topic of another debate. I'm simply gauging your personality and opinions. Back to the matter, some may say that being forced to live with the guilt of crimes you committed is a fate worse than death. Some people may deserve that fate. What's your take on this?"

“Well, that would depend on the person in question. If they killed someone because they find that they enjoy it, guilt isn’t going to be a punishment because they don’t see themselves as guilty, I guess the same would go for a genocidal dictator.” Satou responded.

Sonya smiled. "And what of those whose heart may be changed? For some, it may not be too late." One could tell she was liking where this was going.

“Well… I wouldn’t know myself the psyches of most people, but I would make the assumption most would need to be watched closely, I doubt many could live with it without support and those that could either fall into my previous category or are made of harder stuff.”

"I see. You have a good head on your shoulders. I think you're fit for the job." She said, concluding the interview. She stood up and held out a gloved hand.

“Thank you, I guess.” Satou responded, holding out a hand nervously before taking Sonya’s hand and shaking it. After the shaking, the white room faded, and both were standing back where Satou had found the Matter Manipulator. “Okay… I better ask just to be sure, but you are Sonya right?”

Sonya nodded. "Yes. I am the one who wrote this contract." She answered. She began to take in her surroundings, shivering a little. "Damn… wish I'd made the right protection pack at this point…"

Satou reached into his bag and pulled out a coat that would only just cover Sonya’s entire body. Passing it to her as he calmly said. “Take this, it may be a bit small, but it’s better than nothing.”

She smiled in appreciation. "Thanks." She said, before putting it on. It was a bit awkward due to her tails, but at the very least it was more protection than her fur was providing. She certainly seemed to be the kind of cat that was adapted to handle Desert conditions.

“I’m sorry I couldn’t give you something more comfortable, but it's the best I have.” Satou said apologetically.

"I'm grateful anyway. Thank you. Back in my world, Equis was completely destroyed. I'm still looking for a way to kill the god that did it, but I haven't done much since we escaped the planet." She explained her own lack of preparation.

“Considering you go off a dying planet that sounds like an awful lot of prep anyway.” Satou pointed out, checks over Sonya. “But I better ask if you are currently okay.”

She nods. "Yeah. We managed to save everyone on the planet. I knew the Ruin was coming three months in advance, so we had a lot of time to build custom ships and evacuate. We cut it close though. Ruin arrived just as we got everyone on board, and I flew us outta there." She shared. "And now I gotta find everyone a new planet to call home, at least till I can destroy this evil god."

“I can imagine that must be very stressful for you.” Satou responded calmly as he looked at the others behind him who were just finishing recovering from their journey into the valley.

Sonya eyed them up, noticing the collars. Her ears folded back in clear displeasure. "I take it, this is what you meant?"

“As in the collars… pretty much yeah, they see all females as no more than slaves at best here.” Satou responded sadly.

"And I suppose my position as Grand Protector means nothing to them?" She asked in reference to the males of this world.

“As in the people of this reality, most likely not… unless you have a collar like them, you’ll probably be taken as a slave the second anyone sees you.” Satou responded, his head lowered shamefully.

Sonya sighed. "If any of them try, they'll be in for a fight they probably can't handle. I doubt there are many that can actually stand up to an embodiment of Harmony, let alone someone with psionic power as absurdly strong as mine. But I'll respect your desire to remain peaceful." She responded calmly. She pointedly omitted the fact that she recognised those collars from some porn pictures she'd seen back on Earth before she was displaced… and she also chose to omit that she thought it'd be hot as hell if she let them. But she quickly shook these thoughts from her mind, unaware they were being fed to her by the Crystal Cocks.

Satou looks at Sonya again. “Are you sure you're okay? You look a bit ‘hot under the collar’ so to say.” He asked.

"Yeah, nothing to worry about." She waved it off with a smile. Her face hid her dirty thoughts well after that. She began to head towards the group, interested in introductions. "Hello, all. I'm Sonya. May I know your name?"

“What ‘even’ are you?” Isaac asked, suddenly levelling his bow at her as he pulled the string back while Frostine quickly pointed her spear towards Sonya.

“Stop.” The woman who has been watching both of them spoke to the tense human and lizard-lady. “Lower down your weapons.”

“But Eliza! We don’t know what she is! She could be another monster from this area!” Isaac shouted.

Sonya rolled her eyes. "Sure, a monster that can talk and carry an intergalactic cop's badge. I can totally see why you'd come to that conclusion about a desert cat." She said in a displeased sarcastic tone, with her hands on her hips. She didn't even look like she was bothered by the weapons, seeing as she wasn't poised to dodge.

Satou said. “Isaac, Frostine! Behave yourselves!”

“Sorry dad.” Isaac responded as he lowered his bow.

“Sorry master.” Frostine added as she let her spear held in her weapon hand, her head lowered in shame.

“It’s not me you need to apologise to;” Satou said, pointing his thumb at Sonya. “It’s her.”

“Sorry, Miss.” Frostine and Isaac responded hesitantly, both of them bowing their heads.

Sonya sighed exasperatedly. "Forgiven. Just try using better logic next time. If it can talk and doesn't immediately threaten you, you can probably reason with it. Take that as a general rule." She advised.

Neither of them responded, Frostine looked away from Sonya while Isaac rubbed the back of his head. Isaac looked towards Satou tears forming in his eyes.

Satou then shook his head before adding. “Isaac, you know why I did that so don’t try using tears to make me take your side.”

“Sorry dad...” Isaac responded, walking up to Satou and standing next to him gripping his hand tightly.

“Why am I the only calm one in the group.” Eliza sighed sadly as she got up from the snowy grounds.

Sonya chuckled. "I know the feeling. I had to take measures back in my world to stop a whole court of nobles from killing a changeling that was legitimately one of them." She said. "Anyway… introductions?"

Eliza places a hand to her chest. “I am Ez-004; though Satou and the others called me Eliza instead.” She nodded to Sonya. “It is nice to meet you.”

“The kid behind me is Isaac, and the Lizard girl is Frostine.” Satou added as Isaac hid behind Satou’s and Frostine seemed to only mutter something to herself.

"Nice to meet you all. Hope we'll get along." Sonya replied formally. She turned to Satou. "So what exactly is it you plan to do? I don't have all the information as of yet."

Satou didn’t respond for a second before speaking up. “Does anyone else want any more training for now or should we call it a day?”

“For now let's go back to the cart and cut our losses. Besides; we should let the monsters come back again anyway so we can use this place in the future.” Isaac responded nervously.

“You need anything else, Eliza?” Satou asked. Eliza shook her head, he looked to Sonya. “I’m guessing you won’t mind travelling with us.”

"Sure, why not? I guess I'll need to wear a collar though?" Sonya asked.

“I wouldn’t say you’d need to right now, I can just say I didn’t bring any with me when we reach the town… That's unless you want to wear one.” Satou responded, seemingly looking at something in front of him.

"I think I'd better get used to it sooner rather than later." Sonya stated, though with a blush. She raised her Matter Manipulator and started browsing through it. "Though I guess I should also change to a new set of clothes. My uniform isn't… well, slavey enough." After she stated that, her uniform dissolved into pixels, which rearranged into a new uniform. One made up of embroidered lingerie and some fluffy stockings on her arms and legs.

“Are you sure? “ Satou asked, “If I put a collar on you, you're pretty much declaring that you're my slave.” Satou pointed out.

"Eh. I've done worse." She shrugged. Though she said that in reference to kinks, not in general… though she didn't elaborate.

Satou didn’t respond as he reached into his bag again, pulling out a red collar before warning Sonya one last time. “Last chance to say no to this.”

Sonya rolls her eyes. "Go for it." She gestured as well, didn't seem to care what it meant.

Satou walked up to her, saying. “Head back.” She obeyed, moving her hair out of the way. Satou placed the red collar around her neck and it attached itself, sealing in a continuous loop around her neck as golden runes lit up around the collar. He could see as her eyes dilated for a second but looked no less clear.

"Huh. Feels pretty weird to have magic trying to mess with my head." She commented. Then, giving a cocky grin, she continues. "Emphasis on trying." She paused as she looked down at her waist, and blushes. "Oh. Guess it messes with more than my mind…"

“You sure you're okay?” Satou asked as he placed an arm on Sonya's shoulder. “If you don’t like that on, I can take it off right now.”

"I kinda like it, actually. Might take a few back with me, use them on bounties. What is this material?" She asked.

“I don’t actually know, I haven’t asked about them yet. I just got handed a ton and told to keep a few on me in case anyone tried to attack me, supposedly they can be used to make people follow orders and become more submissive to whoever put them on the wearer.” Satou admitted. “You do realise, you didn’t need to change what you were wearing?” Satou said in confusion. “It’s kinda counterproductive to wear less clothing if you wanted to keep warm.”

"The uniform didn't help anyway. Besides, I figured with the slave collar, I'd be more… Well, I'd fit in better in something more attractive." She replied with a shrug.

“What made you think that? Frostine only doesn’t wear clothes because she can’t feel the cold, and as you can see Eliza is wearing clothes anyway.” Satou pointed out.

"Have you seen Princess Leia's slave outfit? It's minimal at best." She tried to give an excuse so she didn't have to admit it was because she wanted to.

“I suppose, although she was on a desert planet; not a frozen one.” Satou responded, looking at Sonya with a knowing smile before leaning in and whispering. “Or is there a more personal reason for it?”

She pouted. "... I'm weird, okay?" She huffed. "I've got a lot of kinks and I know you don't wanna hear half of them."

Satou thought for a second before whispering again. “I’m sure we can find a way to help you explore a few of them while you're staying here.”

She blushed harder, but whispered in return. "Even… Vore?"

“I’m sure something could be arranged.” Satou replied in a quiet voice. “I bet almost any fetish could be on the table with some preparation.”

Sonya was floored; shocked that he didn't recoil in disgust. And on top of that… the idea of actually fulfilling a fantasy of hers got her to shudder with unrestrained lust. "I sincerely hope you aren't just playing with me here." She prayed out loud.

“I could be, or I may be telling you the truth... It’s up to you to decide.” Satou responded.

Sonya didn't take long to decide as she pulled him into a hug. "I'll fucking love you forever if you can help me with my whole list!"

“I think I know what you chose.” Satou responded with a chuckle as he saw Frostine seemingly glare at Sonya.

Sonya let go after a moment. "So then… I think I'm ready to go to the Crystal Empire. I never got to see it in my world, so I'm excited to see it outside the show." She said. If she noticed Frostine's look, she didn't show it. However, Frostine heard Sonya's voice in her mind. “Jealous? No need to be. I know how much he cares for all of you.” A telepathic message. Though Frostine didn’t respond and kept glaring at the feline.

Satou didn’t respond as he simply shook his head before looking at the group. “Anyway, there doesn’t seem to be any more monsters right now in the area, so let's get back to the cart and go home.” With that said; the entire group began to make their way to their cart and out of the Frosted Valley.

As the group reached the cart, Satou walked inside the cave to find Sunny and Sapphire both asleep in the back of the cart. Satou looked to them both as he said. “Girls we need to get moving, it’s time to head home.”

“Okay.” Sapphire responded as she climbed out the back of the cart with Sunny soon following. Both mares moved in the front of the cart, Satou linked them up to it.

“Everyone, you might as well climb on, so we can get moving.” Satou told the others as he climbed onto the front of the cart. Soon enough, everyone was in, with Sonya taking a seat by Frostine, Eliza sitting across from the two and Isaac sitting beside Satou.

Satou looks over his shoulder one last time before calmly asking. “Girls, are you all ready to go? Don’t need to do anything before we get moving?”

Sonya decided to answer for everyone but Eluza after looking at them since she could read in their expressions and minds. "Yeah, we're all good." But she continued mentally. “Though I think I may have forgotten to mention my psychic powers. Sorry if I forgot. I'm used to everyone knowing at a glance.”

Returning his sight back on the path, Satou gave the go and both mares began moving the cart forward. He mentally said back to Sonya. ‘Think you could teach me how to do that as well?’

“If you have the capacity to learn psionic abilities, sure. But I'll have to figure out how to teach it first. It's a racial ability for me.” Sonya replied. “It probably helps me a lot that the spirit of the Tree of Harmony jumped into my soul at one point.”

‘The Tree of what now?’ Satou thought in confusion.

“Tree of Harmony. It's the main force that allows Equestria to protect the balance of order and Chaos, among other things. It's got the absolute strongest magic in every Equestria. As far as I know. Although, there is a chance the one in this world could have been corrupted with lust…”

‘And that would mean?’

"Probably would explain this weird sense of lust I'm constantly feeling. Been getting stronger the closer we get to the empire."

‘I can’t be sure about this tree being the cause of that… it could be in part because of the collar.’

“Oh, I've been feeling it since I got here. And the collar is only doing so much.”

‘Heads up, it’s only going to get worse considering those Crystal Cock things are in the empire and all that, just try and keep your head on straight okay.’

“Crystal Cock? What?” Sonya's facade broke into a confused stare towards Satou.

‘Something the Caribou made the day I arrived, it seems to lower the inhibitions of all males and females instantly start acting like submissive or domesticated pets… kinda worried you’ll start acting like a kitten or something like that.’ Satou responded seemingly completely unphased by his answer.

“Oh. Interesting… I'll be taking some with my matter manipulator then. For um… ‘studying purposes…’ Maybe I'll make my own things out of it.” Sonya decided. Though for now, she hides her tool in one of her numerous tails.

‘Sure; let's go with that, definitely won’t be for more erotic purposes will it?’ Satou asked before adding.‘We’ll be travelling for a while, if you want to run down a list of things you want to try while you are here, you're free to tell me.’

“Sounds good. Let's see… I have so many, it's kinda hard to keep track of it all at once, even with my boosted mind. Off the top of my head, I can think of tentacles, egg pregnancy, fetish parasites, Slimes, maybe possession if the possessor uses me for kinks, and pretty much everything associated with Vore except weight gain and hyper parts.” She listed, though the response was rather rehearsed. “I've been asked for a full kink list a lot. It's usually never complete.”

‘I’m gonna have a lot of work on my hands with you ain’t I?’ Satou thought.

Sonya chuckled across the connection. “Not to worry. I'm well aware that request work takes time, and can't always be worked on due to higher priorities. For a lifetime of not being able to pay for art commissions, it's a lesson in patience I learned early on.”

‘And something a lot of Video Game designers I used to know desperately needed to learn.’ Satou added to which Sonya chuckled.

“Ah. Reminds me of that time I made a boss rush game from online gifs. It was a shitty game I never actually released. Cuz I'm kinda defeatist.” Sonya admitted.

‘You have no idea how many times ideas were made like that and never saw the light of day.’Satou stated as Sonya sighed.

“Yeah… It's gonna be one of my pre-displaced regrets. That, and never beating Supreme Calamitas.” Sonya joked to raise levity.

‘There are many regrets we’ll have in this life, but it’s what we do with what we have left that matters.’ Satou responded before adding. ‘Anyway, it’ll be a few hours before we reach the Empire so if you want to rest and get some sleep; you might as well.’

Sonya yawned, though she turned it into a cute "Nya" while she stretched. “Alright, Master.” She made sure her tone told him that was intentional.

Satou paused before he vocally spoke to Issac beside him. “Isaac, mind swapping places with Sonya?”

“I’m guessing you want to let her spend time getting to know you better, Sure.” Isaac responded before climbing into the back of the cart and saying to Sonya. “Hey, my dad wants you up next to him, you might as well take the chance.”

Sonya giggled. "Well alright." She heads up front, stepping as quiet as a cat past the others. Once she was up there, she sat by his side. "Something you wanted to say in person?"

“I thought it may be nicer for you to sit at the front, and besides,” Satou said as he wrapped a blanket around her. “You are both my guest; and temporary newest “pet”, so there is no harm in treating my little kitten right.” Sonya giggled in response.

"How thoughtful~." She purred. She leaned over him, laying her head on his lap. "Thanks. I'll really owe you a lot after this, huh? Already thinking a Mech will do nicely." She said as she closed her eyes.

Satou didn’t respond as he just rubbed the back of Sonya’s neck while they continued on their way to the Crystal Empire. He looked back at the cargo seats to see Frostine asleep with Isaac resting his head against Eliza’s shoulder who Satou assumed was meditating.

Sonya began waking up on her own as the Empire came close. So many minds coming in close proximity disturbed her, and she was forced to go through her old training exercise to shut them all out. She groaned as she sat up, holding her head. "Ugh. Great, now I'm super horny. Stupid psychic powers showing me everything these meatheads are thinking…"

Satou didn’t respond as he continued slowly rubbing the back of Sonya’s head. Sonya was appreciative, and soon her headache went away. “Feeling any better?” Satou asked calmly as he looked down at Sonya. Sonya nodded and smiled at him.

"Yeah. Just wasn't prepared to ward off the minds my powers would listen to. Should be smooth sailing from here."

“As long as you're okay, that's all that matters.” Satou responded as he stopped rubbing her neck.

As they came up to the gate, Sonya began to put on an act- or maybe it wasn't. Regardless, she allowed the collar to work its influence.

Eliza leans at the edge, watching every caribou or ponies doing their thing. Push herself back to a layback position as she watched the sky but occasionally glanced at Sonya observantly.

The group stopped at the gates, multiple guards began to swarm the cart before stopping as one said. “Don’t even bother, he goes right in.”

“You sure? Isn’t that against the rules?” A second guard responded.

“I’m sorry for this, Sir Pendragon. He’s new on the job.” The first guard responded. “Head right in with whatever you’ve got with you.”

“You know, if you're too lenient, someday things might go wrong.” Satou responded.

“Maybe it will, but I don’t think today's that day.” The caribou guard responded before looking at Sonya, he seemed to lick his lips. “The only new thing I can see is this cute Abyssinian slave you’ve acquired, and I can’t see any issues with her. None at all, she’s just purrfect.”

Sonya gave a cute little meow in response, adding in a little purr as she raised one of her tails to stroke the caribou's chin. Although the show of affection only lasted a few seconds, she made sure she left a positive impression.

The guard didn’t say anything else and just chuckled before the gate opened behind him. He waved Satou in. “The others did make me aware that a certain annoying former owner keeps trying to break into your home. He’s been kicked out each time, but he may appear again.”

“Thanks for the warning.” Satou responded as the cart began to move forward into the Empire. They passed through the gate to find the street slowly clearing of most erotic activities as he and Dainn had agreed.

One of the few things that were happening was a single male trying to grab hold of a nearby mare before stopping as he received glares from those around him. Sonya definitely took notice of this, and looked at Satou, assuming he was responsible to some degree.

“Not telling.” Satou responded with a smirk. Sonya just chuckled and returned to purring. As soon as she saw the Crystal Cocks, she narrowed her eyes. She could put two and two together based on their name. She glanced around, but seeing way too many people around, chose to do nothing for now. She was, however, beginning to drip constantly on her seat, and began squirming from lust. "Nng.. those things are… really effective…" She whispered to Satou.

“Just try and stay calm okay.” Satou responded as he rubbed Sonya’s neck again, slowly moving down her back. As much as it helped, Sonya really couldn't help it. Her hands twitch every few seconds, which was a clear indication of just how bad she wanted to cum.

Satou didn’t respond at least a moment before looking at her and said. “If you need me, just say.” Sonya huffed, gritting her teeth to hold back her lust.

"...I need to rub one off…" Sonya whispered. "I can't hold back much longer. I was not prepared for this."

Satou didn’t respond instantly, switching hands he was using to control the cart before reaching down between Sonya’s legs. “Do you want my help?”

Sonya nodded. "Y-yes… please…" She begged. Her face hid nothing. She was getting desperate.

Satou only nodded before pushing his fingers into Sonya’s groin slowly, rubbing the inside her groin sinking his fingers deeper; slowly moving them around. She moaned eagerly. It didn't take long for her to speak up to comment.

"Ooh wow… It feels so much better than when I had a dick." She said with a hitch of her voice.

Satou didn’t respond as he dug his fingers as deep as he could, brought his finger and thumb up against where he assumed Sonya’s clitoris would be before squeezing them around it slowly rubbing it between them. Sonya's moans grew louder in response. She soon came, and her body tensed up as she rode it out. Breathing deep, she managed a quick "Thank you" before she laid her head in his lap again.

“Not a problem.” Satou responded with a smile, pulled his hand away placing both back on the reins controlling the cart. His finger and thumb were sticky and got a bit on the rein.

Eliza stood up. “I got something to do, I'll see you later.” Then vanish like static on a tv before fading.

Sonya stared at the spot Eliza had just left in surprise, uttering a very confused "What?".

“I have no idea.” Satou responded. Sonya shrugged it off and resumed cuddling up to Satou.

“You do realise that we will need to clean this mess up so it’s suitable for any other… visitors.” Satou responded as he rubbed the back of Sonya’s neck.

"Hmm? Oh, yeah. The matter Manipulator has an upgrade that allows it to collect liquids. Just use that." Sonya pointed out.

“How do I even use it?” Satou asked before adding with a chuckle. “This would be a good time for a tutorial to appear in front of me.”

He then paused as a small flashing symbol in the shape of a question mark appeared in the corner of his vision before a screen flicked up that read: The matter Manipulator acts much like a gun, but with a neural interface where you decide how it acts. To toggle modes, think of which mode you want to use. To use it, aim and pull the trigger. The smart targeting technology will only pick up what you want it to pick up.

Satou saw a small pulsating arrow at the side of the message which he gestured with a small movement of his finger, it flicked over almost like a book turning a page. He saw what looked to be an image that consisted of multiple grids, with the words below reading: There are six tabs in the Inventory menu, which can be accessed by viewing the manipulator from the side, as displayed below. Each grid square can hold up to 100 counts of whatever you place in it. The manipulator automatically sorts all matter placed in it's inventory, but you may choose how it's sorted. The picture showed the manipulator first being pointed forward, then turned to view it from its left face, where the menu was shown.

Satou looked over the message a few times making sure he understood it before closing the message and looking down to Sonya. “I just want to check, your token works like the one you use correct?”

"Yes, it does. It even comes with a starter inventory. Should have at least 3 upgrade modules you can apply as you want. And some basic crafting stations like the Inventor's table, furnace, Anvil, Workbench, and Apothecary."

“What are these upgrade modules?” Satou asked as he listened to her and focused on the road, still rubbing her neck with his hand, parts of Sonya’s fur sticking together under Satou’s touch.

"They're made to expand the base capabilities of the Matter Manipulator. Check the upgrade menu." She demonstrates how, by turning hers to face skyward.

“I’ll need you to lead me through that when we have time.” Satou responded.

"Alright then. I'll see about making something for you on my manipulator when we get where we're going. I think it'll come in really handy if you can find some good fuel for it." Sonya said. Her hips started to rub against each other with increasing lust after this. Seemed the effect was hitting her again.

“I’ll have to ask what you mean by fuel.” Satou responded as they continued on their way towards their home. “If you need anything from me just ask. Okay.”

"...Alright. The effect is hitting me again…" Sonya admitted.

“Do you want some help now or can you hold out this time?” Satou asked, looking down at her for a second.

"I think I got it this time. I should last until I get to bed." Sonya assured, with a bit of a blush on her face.

“No worries then.” Satou responded, looking forward again before adding. “If you need me at any point just ask and I'll try my best to help.”

"Thanks." Sonya went back to resting her head on his leg as they continued on towards the mansion.

As the group approached the mansion, Satou looked to Sonya. “Looks like we’re home… What do you think?”

Sonya raised an eyebrow, impressed as she looked it over from the front. "This is a pretty big place. How'd you get it?"

“The king gave me the place for free.” Satou responded calmly. “I suppose he wanted me to live somewhere that placed me above others.”

"Huh. Strangely generous." She remarked.

“That's something I can agree with.” Satou responded with a nod as the cart entered the mansion road, moving it behind the house to the barn. They parked inside and everyone climbed off, with Frostine unholstering the two mares before closing the door behind them, and walked towards the house.

However, Satou stops, looking back at where he and Sonya had been sitting to see a large damp spot on the seat. He reached into his bag, pulling out Sonya’s token. ‘So how did the tutorial say to do this again?’ Satou thought to himself. Holding the token towards the damp spot, he ‘will’ juices on the seat to be sucked up and pulls the trigger, the machine gives a soft glow. A lightning-like beam emitted from it, arcing forth to strike the mess, before said mess promptly vanished in a burst of pixels. These pixels then floated towards the manipulator, flowing into the lens on the front. All of this took less than a second to complete.

As soon as it was done Satou rubbed his hand over where the spot had been to find it completely dry with no marks remaining on the seat.

While Satou was doing this, Sonya took the time to appreciate the scenery at first. However, she did grab out her Manipulator and started going through screens it displayed. She stopped at one displaying a modular mech equip screen.

“What are you doing?” Satou asked as he caught up to Sonya. Sonya flipped the screen over, not answering for now. She goes through a crafting menu, before selecting one titled Mech Part Assembly Station.

"Just making something you could use. And you can store it in your manipulator when you aren't using it." She scowled at the greyed out craft button and sighed. "Or I would be if I had some fucking Durasteel. Damnit…"

“Durasteel?” Satou asked as he looked at her curiously. “What's that and what can you use it for?”

Sonya put her manipulator back in her tail. "Basically, an extremely tough metal in my world that's stronger than titanium. Typically found on irradiated planets, I would need special equipment to even survive long enough to get any. Equipment I don't have yet."

“That's a shame, I was wondering what you were trying to do. But I guess It’ll be a surprise if you can ever manage it.” Satou responded as he looked back into the cart to find Isaac still asleep. He carefully put Issac on his back, allowing him to rest his head on his shoulder as he gave him a piggyback.

"Just a mech part assembly station. And mech part Equipper. Though all the basic recipes already on the Assembly table require titanium, Durasteel or some other materials from my world, you can still make your own blueprints." Sonya explained.

“I see, I’ll have to get you to teach me how to use that later then.” Satou responded.

"Eh. It's as easy as plugging in the Manipulator and using the crafting interface." Sonya stated as she headed in. She soon came across Eliza talking to four maids in the entrance room.

"Oh hey, whatcha doing?" Sonya asked, curious.

Eliza turned to face Sonya and gestured to the maids who bowed their heads and walked away. “We were discussing schedules.”

"Schedules? What for?" Sonya asked. She was beginning to ask questions of the curious sort. One may hope curiosity doesn't get this cat killed.

“Since these maids and butlers are going to be working around here, I might as well give them different tasks or similar. It keeps me busy at least.” Eliza responds as she spotted one of the maids walking by and gave a simple “Hi!” before heading off with Eliza marking something on her clipboard.

"Sounds good to me. At least I have the Alicorns helping me organize everything going on in my world." Sonya said, leaning on a table with a vase. She was careful though and didn't knock it off.

“I see,” Eliza said as she looked through an open path to see two maids cleaning up the lounge room, she wrote something on the clipboard again before continuing. “Well…” She stopped as she was looking in another direction, mentally distracted.

"Though, my question is, what is it about you that prevents my mind from reaching yours? You some kind of Android?" Sonya asked.

“11 percent nanomachine but was classified as me being android while the rest is human. However, I was created with the ability to not be affected by outside mental abilities such as telepathy. However; I can sense when someone attempts to me. Does that help?” Eliza replied again.

Sonya nods. "Yeah, it answers a few questions. Nanotech, you say? Mind if I get a scan of it so I can work on my own blueprints?" She asked with a curious expression.

“Sorry, creator had put a scan blocker on anything he created. That includes the nanomachines inside me.” Eliza apologized.

"Fair enough, I suppose." Sonya shrugged, not taking it personally. "Do you have any idea where the Alicorns of this world went?"

“Yes.” Eliza began, then raised an eyebrow. “Why?”

"Just curious, because I don't exactly see them giving up their freedom at any point. As I know them, they'd sooner run for it than give up their freedom, if a battle isn't an option."

“The caribou is only able to control the Frozen North, I think it's because of Satou that they haven’t gone further out yet.” Eliza guessed.

“I don’t think I’m the only reason for that,” Satou responded as he walked towards the group, “That wave may be accounting for it as well.”

“Sounds better...” Eliza turns to Satou. “Also, welcome back, I’ve been waiting here since you went to training.” She stopped as she looked into the lounge room and the maids still working; which is written on her clipboard again.

Sonya raised an eyebrow. "Wave?" She asked.

“How to explain it...” Satou said to himself. “Think of it like a boss battle in a game, it’s a large wave of monsters, hence the name that appears from nowhere. I don’t know anything more about it though, we only experienced one a few days ago, but Dainn did say he had. One occurred in his home before they fled to Equestria.”

Sonya stood there confused for a second. But then something clicked. "Hey… you wouldn't happen to have The Gamer's UI, would you?" She asked Satou.

“The what?” Eliza asked in confusion. “What’s ‘The Gamer’s UI’?”

"Basically when you have floating text managing everything around you in a similar style to a video game. Except it also lets you put points into things that end up directly affecting your performance, such as resistance, stamina, dexterity… things like that. Some also have a bottomless inventory they can stick items in… and a lot of items can have buffs to the gamer that others won't be able to use unless the gamer has the ability to share his UI with a party system." Sonya took a breath after that explanation.

Satou didn’t respond instantly as he looked at Sonya curiously before he spoke up. “Are you sure you don’t know more about me than… well me.”

Sonya chuckled. "I read a lot of Displaced fics before I became one. And anyway, it would explain why mental interaction with you feels so… Stiff for lack of a better word."

“If that’s an innuendo for something, I’m disappointed.” Satou replied. Sonya rolled her eyes in answer.

"No, but it is a metaphor. Kinda hard to describe mental interactions, really. Every mind is different." Sonya replied.

“Unless you're most Caribou, then they would almost all be the same.” Satou responded with a shrug of his shoulders. “By that; I mean non-existent.”

Eliza sighed and asked Satou and Sonya. “Is there anything you need from me? If not then I will take my leave.”

"I suppose not." Sonya replied. She turned to Satou. "You?"

“Right now I don’t believe so, but I bet you have a lot of things you need to sort around here.” Satou responded.

Eliza paused for a bit before looking towards Sonya. “Your planning to stay here for a bit are you?”

Sonya nods. "Time flows differently between worlds, but thanks to the contract I wrote, I have a hell of a lot of time I can spend here."

“There's a free room you can use for your stay, thing is that it’s next door to mine and two doors from Satou. If you are interested in it.”

“And I see no issue with you spending as long as you like here.” Satou added with a calm smile.

Sonya smiled. "Thanks. I'll go ahead and get myself acquainted." She said. She then frowned. "...Is that the right word? Eh. Whatever." She started to head off, presumably to explore the mansion.

Eliza spotted a crystal pony mare wearing a maid outfit. She called her over and she answered. “I want you to be by Sonya’s side, she is a guest here. If she needs something like food; drink or medical; things like that, you do your job. But remember the rules, okay Marble Stone.”

“As you wish miss.” Marble Stone bowed before running for Sonya.

“You know Eliza, if you want to act like the head maid, I’m sure we could get you a uniform for the role.” Satou responded with a smirk.

“Hah haha; very funny.” Eliza just rolled her eyes. “I’m doing it because I don’t trust you, Isaac, Frostine, Sunny or Sapphire to do a proper job. Thought it would be nice to have something to do.”

“And I wouldn’t trust anyone else with the task.” Satou responded. “Also for the record, I was serious about the uniform.”

“Nope.” Eliza answered, peeling off a circle sticker and slapped it on Satou's forehead with a D- on it. “D minus.” She stated with a smirk that actual emanated feeling.

“Really?” Satou responded, pulling the sticker off his head. “Where did you get that?”

“Not telling.” Eliza said as she started walking to the central dining room.

“Fine.” Satou responded with a sigh. “I’m going to get some rest anyway, I get a feeling I’m going to need the energy.”

Eliza stopped just inches away from the line between rooms. Recollecting something as she gave a sudden “Oh!” and she looked back to Satou. “I almost forgot. King Dainn wanted to see you at the palace today, something about a testing Collar. The one you mention to him I think, he wanted your approval. Since it's your idea after all.”

“Did he give you a time for me to meet him?” Satou asked curiously.

“Right after you come back but you can go tomorrow morning instead, he said either one will work.”

Satou paused for a moment before answering. “It’s better I do something like that when I’m wide awake, I’m in no state after that journey back here. If you could send a message to him and tell him I’ll meet tomorrow morning.”

“I’m not your messenger, Satou. The only reason I’m telling you this is because he actually came here while you were out training with the others.”

“We really need to get a messenger or a way to transfer messages between us.” Satou responded. Eliza shrugged as she walked away. Satou slowly walked towards his room. “I’ll figure something out.”

Sonya eventually stopped to talk with the maid that followed her. "So uh. Why are you following me?" She asked, curious. Though she didn't simply read her mind, because that'd be rude.

“Miss Eliza requested me to assist you while you're here, Miss Sonya.” Crystal pony mare answered with a chipper tone.

"Ah. How nice. I definitely could use help finding my room." Sonya admitted sheepishly.

“If you follow me.” Marble Stone gestured with an open palm to the stairs just a few feet away before walking towards it. Sonya just began following silently, still embarrassed to have to ask.

Reaching the top steps they turned right and walked past six doors with one door being far apart from the others; before reaching one door. Marble Stone stopped and did the same gesture to the door with a bow. “Here we are, Miss.”

Sonya smiled. "Thank you. Now, before I retire for the night, I've been hearing about some rules or whatever from the passing thought every now and then. Could you explain these rules to me? As a law enforcement officer, I feel I should know."

“Do you have permit papers of such claims?” Marble Stone asked as she pulled out her own clipboard that wasn’t present before.

Sonya nodded and showed her Matter Manipulator. "This is both my ultimate tool and my badge. Here's the document proving my graduation." Sonya tapped a few buttons, and sure enough, a hard light screen appeared, showing the certificate of graduation. One flick to the side showed a certificate of ownership for a Protector's vessel and the name of her assigned starship.

Marble looked confused and a little nervous while reading it. “Um, you sure this is real? Cause some of it sounds… ‘made up’.”

Sonya nodded. "These are from my world. The Protectorate is… Well, was the universe's peacekeeping force in my world until the Ruin came and wiped them all out. As the last surviving protector, it's my duty to help the Protectorate rise from the ashes and rebuild what was lost. And to destroy the Ruin before it accomplishes its goal of destroying all life everywhere." Sonya explained.

Marble blinked at this. “Oh. But what does that have to do with the rules around here?”

"So I know what rules to follow," Sonya replied. "And so that I'm not ignorant of them."

“It’s best that mister Satou explains the empire rules but if you're talking about the workers here then I would know… Sorry miss.” Marble bow in apologies.

"I see. Alright. One last thing… Do you mind getting me a pop tart if there are any in this world?" Sonya asked.

The mare sheepishly chuckled. “We don’t have pop tart here… I don’t think I ever heard one before.”

"Aw. That's alright, I'll just have to get some more when I get home." Sonya said reassuringly. "But I'll write up a recipe for toaster pastries tomorrow."

“If you need me I will be between both your and Eliza room.” The crystal mare said before leaving. Sonya nodded and headed to her room, enjoying a fresh bed for the night.