The Duel at Dawn

Callisto was woken by an urgent knocking at the door, and by Xalyth exiting her bed and robing herself. She allowed the grey woman to answer and tried to eek out a few more moments of sleep but it was not to be.

The servant in the doorway called out, passed the elf, who looked vaguely offended, 'sorry to bother you, Lady Callisto, but there are reports of an army approaching the castle, and they say it will be here in just two hours.' She immediately got to her feet, letting the young woman see her in her nakedness, which caused the poor thing to blush and turn away, as she pulled her armour on and sheathed her sword.

'Well, it seems I must return to my people,' Xalyth said, 'I enjoyed myself but I don't care to make a habit of it.'

'That's fair enough,' Callisto managed to say, even though she was upset that yet another one of her bed partners was not going to become her lover.

After that, she descended to the throne room to hear a more elaborate version of the news. Sir Tom was there to greet her and immediately launched into an explanation, 'the army is travelling at speed, though it has no mounted troops. It is being led by Zarod Xagreth, the son of our dearly departed demon prince.'

'Is he not a prince himself?'

'No, the title is not strictly hereditary and a half-demon orc was already pushing it. Zarod is only one-quarter demon, and since the other three quarters are not devil, that pretty much rules him out. That does not mean he won't feel entitled to his father's castle, however. His host is large, certainly inferior in quality to those we fought, but reportedly five thousand strong.'

Callisto understood what that meant immediately, 'too many to face in a battle. I shall have to duel him.'

Sir Tom did not seem pleased with the idea but knew as well as she did that there weren't many better options short of a retreat. 'He is more of an orc than his father, so he should accept at least as readily, but his army is very heavily composed of demons. If he refuses your challenge or they just decide they don't care, you'd be facing thousands alone and I would not risk my men trying to relieve you.'

'That is a possibility I shall have to risk. Right, I will meditate in my Pure Land for a while and return well in time.'

This was permitted, not that it needed to be, and she flew to the clearing, to soak up as much power as she could in the short time available. She waited until she felt the beast physically react to the power and then returned to the castle. Whilst in the air, she got her first look at Zarod and his army. The scouts had not been deceived. It was at least five thousand soldiers, most of them demons. When she entered the throne room, Mel had news for her.

She brought with her an older woman she recognised from the duel, the one with the awful deadened look in her eyes. Mel beamed, 'this woman has information for you.'

Callisto smiled at the woman, who held her head low, a gorgeous thing, tall and healthy with brown almond shaped eyes and long jet black hair, 'let's hear it, then.'

'Zarod will agree to duel, you can be assured of that. He is a traditionalist, obsessed with honour and glory, as the orcs define it.'

Callisto used her God's Eye to figure out how she knew this and could not conceal her shock, 'he's your son.'

The woman, whose name was Emiko, simply nodded. She was a noblewoman, from the far east, held prisoner for twenty years and **** every night, broken long ago. Though they'd long since poisoned her womb, Agronak had kept her alive to allow Zarod to kill her at the proper time and place, just as the Demon Prince had killed his own mother to close his coronation ceremony. Callisto had to close her eyes to keep tears from falling.

'Thank you for your information. Do you wish to be present for the duel?'

At that, Emiko looked up at her, 'I don't care.'

After that, another woman was brought to her, one from the breeding chamber, led by a well-dressed functionary, who said, 'pardon me, my lady,' she did not know why people had begun to address her that way, 'the Archduke's daughter wishes to see you.'

'That's quite alright,' she replied, getting a good look at the girl. She was young and full figured, with a noble face and big blue eyes. Her was hair blonde and, now, worn in a long braid.

'Thank you,' the girl said, earnestly, and kissed her rescuer on the cheek. Then the Warmth hit her and she pressed herself more fully against her, 'thank you, thank you, thank you,' she repeated in tears.

Though she guiltily enjoyed the sensation, Callisto peeled the girl away, 'I am just happy to see you safe and well.'

The girl smiled at her, sadly, but said nothing more. After that, she had one more woman to see, though this one came unannounced. Bursting into the throne room, to the sound of shouting from guards and servants alike, the girl was stark naked. She recognised her immediately as another of the prince's concubines, from her glittery pink hair. She'd been one of the ones that had seemed upset after the duel. Now, however, she ran up to Callisto with madness in her eyes, 'you!' she cried, 'you must order your men to fuck me!'

The comment bewildered her and she said nothing as a couple of guards restrained her.

She kicked the air wildly and continued to rant, 'I have not had a cock in me all night! The men refuse to touch me but I am still fertile and eager to please! They can put it in my mouth or my arse if they'd prefer, I've told them so!'

'I don't understand,' Callisto said, more to the rest of the people in the room than to the mad girl.

'She's been mind-broken,' Mel said, 'it can happen when there's dark magic involved, which in this case could either have come from the dungeon core or from Agronak himself since he was part-demon. She's come to believe that taking cock is all she's good for. You saw a few women like that in Silverton.'

She remembered being disgusted. 'Can nothing be done for her?'

Mel considered the question for a long while, 'there are mind magics that could heal her but it is usually considered **** to leave them as they are. She could be given to one of the men, or sent to a brothel.'

The girl, still wriggling against the guards, her breast jiggling invitingly, spoke up at that, 'yes! Give me to a brothel, there will be lots of cock for me there!'

Averting her eyes, Callisto replied, 'I shall have someone cure you.'

'I don't want a cure, I want cock!'

'Take her away, and someone clothe her, please.' She had not fully realised that she had started giving orders, despite the real commanders arrayed around her, until they were already being followed. It was certainly something she could get used to.

'Sincere apologies for you having to see that,' one of the servants said, but she smiled and wave it off.

'Right, I would like a cavalryman to accompany me and bring Emiko along, if possible.'

Sir Tom replied, with his thumb under his chin, 'I am sure someone will want that honour. I am assume they will be under orders to retreat at the first sign of trouble.'

Callisto nodded, 'yes.'

When it was time, she rode alongside the soldier on her own steed made of light, by far her most complex construct.

'I expect the demons to attack me after the duel, so please be prepared to take Emiko to safety,' she said to the soldier, a stocky man in half-plate with a lance and a sword and an image of a black ram's head on his white shield.

He spoke with a sophisticated accent, 'your wish is my command, my lady.'

That eased her only real worry and they rode the rest of the way in silence. Once they arrived, he remained mounted whilst Emiko came down to stand alongside her. The demons at the front of Zarod's army were frothing at the mouth and when one broke ranks and ran at her, an orc warrior had to put him down. From his appearance, it was impossible to tell that Zarod had any demon blood at all, except perhaps for the fact that his hair was white rather than black. He was leaner than his father, and shorter, but with more muscle definition and much less madness behind his eyes, which were sickly yellow. His forehead was horribly scarred, as was his chest and arms. Just like his father, he wore nothing on his upper body, though his heart was not visible. It took her God's Eye to see it pulsing with dark magic.

She discovered that he was shocked and upset to see his mother but hid it well, and that he considered his father a lazy coward, totally unimpressed by Callisto's defeat of him. 'It was nice of you to bring a bitch to fuck after I've killed you,' he said, trying to suppress his feelings, 'a bit old though, she'll give me no son-brothers.'

'I brought here to be with you in your final moments. Don't ruin it with vulgarity.'

Her comments had got under his skin, as she'd hoped they would, and he spat, 'enough! Let's fucking fight!' He did not wait for her response and launched himself at her with his axe. She reinforced her armour and took the blow, knowing that she could, down across her chest, and skewered him with her own attack, a sword thrust right through the heart. He lurched back, howling in pain, and fell to the ground as wisps of purple smoke began to pour out of the hole in his chest.

'Your mother is here, Zarod. You have nothing left to prove, no one to protect your image from. Tell her, truly, how you feel.'

Emiko went up to him, intrerested to hear what he had to say but holding out no hope. She got bloody spit on her face for her trouble, and he called her out in his dying breaths, 'you bitch! You bitch! When the Dark Lion rises, you'll wish I'd killed you! Whore!'

Her blood having run cold and unwilling to hear any more, Callisto opened his throat with her blade and let him **** on his blood. Instantly, she could sense the dispcipline of his demons break and she put Emiko up on the horse. The cavalryman did as he was bid and tore off, back to the castle. Callisto protected them with a horde emanations and got to work. The orcs quit the field and she was left with three thousand demons, some more monstrous than ever. It was magically exhausting more than it was physically tiring and she had depleted her mana reserves by the end of it.

With a couple of hundred more demons left and only her steel sword to kill them with, she considered flying away. But then she remembered the scenes from the breeding chamber, and knew that she'd struggle to forgive herself if she let them go free, to **** and **** the innocent. So, she fought. She received cuts and bruises like never before but she fought all the same and, within an hour, they were dead and she was still standing. With one of her wings badly injured, she began the long walk back to the demon prince's lair.

It was a hard walk, and gave her time to think. She thought about the mind-broken girl and how tempting it was to take her as a sex ****, so that she would never again have to sleep alone. The guilt made her resolve to have the girl cured. She thought of the Archduke's daughter and how deeply she relished the girl's touch. That guilt ate at her, unresolved. She thought of Mel and Xalyth, believing that she could be happy with either one but knowing that neither was interested actually being with her. Then, she thought of Morgan and agonised over her offer to forsake her family and be the devoted lover she desperately wanted.

She wondered if she was doomed never to form a real connection with anyone, if that was the secret hell hidden in heaven. She would have these great powers, and be unwilling to use them, have as much sex as she wanted but never find true love. Her thoughts upset her but at least kept her mind off the pain. Thankfully, the walk did not take much longer and both Mel and Xalyth were there to greet her.

Whilst Mel fussed over her wounds, Xalyth spoke, 'it's been said that you want someone to cure the mind-broken girl. I have the ability to do this but I must caution you. Some say it is **** to leave such women in this state.'

Callisto dismissed the notion, 'self-serving men who want something to stick their cock in.'

Xalyth hummed at that, 'perhaps.'

'I want to do right by her. If you are dead against it, I will trust your judgement.'

'No, you may very well be right. I shall heal her mind tonight.'

'Thank you,' she beamed, through the pain.

On account of her condition, it was decided that the army would linger another night at the castle and leave in the morning. She was left to recover in the prince's bedroom and cursed herself for not asking Mel to stay with her once she realised that no one else was planning to show up at her door. She been fantasising about the Archduke's daughter. In her waking dream, they had initially just held one another, contentedly brushing their foreheads together and softly rubbing each other's arms and legs. Then, things had become heavier. Callisto had told her that she shouldn't feel obliged but the girl had told her that she wanted to please her.

Just as the girl, whose name was Lena according to her God's Eye, had begun to do in the dream, Callisto brought her own hand down low and rubbed herself. She brought a moan from her own lips, as Lena had, and began to work faster. She pumped and pumped for what seemed like an eternity, wetting the mattress with her sweat and juices, as she rode herself to the first climax. Turning onto her belly, she eyed the door, desperately hoping Lena would really enter the room, or some other woman would, but no one came. Drowning her frustration in her pillow, she put her fingers back to work, crying and moaning as she stimulated her clit.

Remembering her fight with Tandy, she took a pillow down between her legs and writhed against, doing what she should've done with that girl. She dreamed of having that wretched temple stormed and the women carried off, leaving only the girl for her own pleasure. She would make her break every vow she'd ever swore and love her for it. Most importantly, she would punish her for breaking her heart, she would slap her arse red raw and plunge her hard light member into her hard and fast. Tandy would scream for dear life and come on her again and again until she transformed into a mindless slut. Then, Callisto would fasten a collar around her neck and drag her naked through the streets. Wherever and whenever she wanted her pussy licked, the girl would do it and be all the happier for it.

She lost herself to these fantasies and eventually came all over the pillow. Without a partner, however, she felt unquenchable and searched for another fantasy to take hold of her. If she'd been thinking more clearly, she'd have wondered why it had all come on so strongly, but her mind was pudding and she could think of nothing else. She imagined that mind-broken girl, and fucking her into oblivion. She used her hands again, rubbing mercilessly against her raw and reddened clitoris, as she thought of how badly she could treat someone with such little self-worth. She would try to break her a second time over, fucking her and fucking her in a **** hope to draw out a plea for mercy that would never come.

She imagined all the girls who'd spurned her in her past life and what she could do to them in her true form. It would be easy to extract confessions and apologies from them once they were well and truly defeated. Once any resistance had fled from them and they'd transformed into her personal sex toys, then they'd finally know their only real purpose in life and be happy. Then there were the ones who'd not been as cruel. They would be conquered slowly and sweetly, but conquered all the same. After those fantasies had been exhausted, she dared to imagine Carnachias beneath her.

When her thoughts lingered on the goddess, her arousal began to burn hotter. She thought she might explode from sexual want as she imagined groping and sucking and nipping those large breasts of hers and driving herself into her, again and again. The Dark Sister would pull her hair and claw at her back, hurt her in all the ways she knew she deserved to be hurt, but eventually she'd be conquered all the same. Brought low from such great heights and reduced to a mindless fuck hole like all the rest. The thought of her, fucked stupid and nakedly heaving from exhaustion, brought Callisto to her final climax of the night, after which she mustered the strength to pull herself out of her addled haze.

She transported herself to her domain and rushed to one of its ornate bathrooms, to splash herself with cold water. Once she had returned to some semblance of sanity, she detected an unwelcome presence in the palace and went to investigate. Her dread began to build, as she realised how close the being was to the beast's cell. She brought her guards with her as she ventured into the basement level of her palace, through the cellars and towards that horrible swirling mass of dark magic and ill intent. She summoned her courage when she saw that the guards there were missing and briefly considered going back to fetch her sword but before she could even entertain the idea, another one was quickly fetched for her.

As she got closer, she realised who it was. Carnachias was moving towards her, away from the cell. She was as naked as Callisto, and, as she walked, she smiled and wiped something from her mouth. 'What are you doing here?!' the angel demanded, fear clear in her voice.

The goddess said nothing, and simply winked before vanishing into thin air. With the woman gone, the guards around the cell reappeared and relief flooded over her.