"A deal's a deal, 'Pointy'." I purred, ignoring her furious glare as I wriggled my bound wrists. The cold iron bit into my skin, but the real irritation was the complete, unnerving void where my power should be.
"Pointy?! My name is Vespera!" she snapped, her amethyst eyes flashing. "And you are delusional! We are chained to a wall, stripped of our gear, about to be violated by three brutes who think 'foreplay' is breaking your legs! And all you can talk about is... your 'plan'!"
"Vespera..." I murmured, testing the name on my tongue. "Pretty. Now, be a good girl and shut up for a second. I'm thinking."
I closed my eyes, ignoring the ogres' booming laughter and the rank smell of their cookfire. I focused inward, past the suffocating emptiness left by the Null-Cuffs.
I breathed in.
Then out.
Slow. Deep. Measured.
The world didn't give a shit that I was a goddess. Iron still weighed the same. Muscles still burned. And right now, every inch of me felt like it was wrapped in lead.
[It's no use, Morgana,] Herma's voice resonated in the silence of my mind. [The cuffs are of Ancient Elven design. They don't just block the flow; they create a feedback loop that drains any active mana.]
'Shut it, Herma. I'm not looking for mana,' I snapped back mentally. 'I'm looking for the structural integrity of this cheap-ass iron.'
"Stop... stop squirming," Vespera hissed, her face inches from mine. The proximity was delicious. I could see the tiny flecks of silver in her amethyst irises and smell the faint scent of crushed lavender and sweat clinging to her skin. "You're only making it tighter."
"Trust me, Vespera, 'tight' is my favorite setting," I grinned, feeling my muscles bunch. "And I'm not squirming. I'm calibrating."
I shifted my weight, the chain rattling, testing the pull points on the shackles. My gaze swept over her, taking in the dirt smudges on her high cheekbones, the defiant set of her jaw, the way her tattered top barely contained her heaving breasts. A very pleasant distraction.
"Aah~" I sighed dramatically. "It's been a while since I've been in a bind this... tight. Brings back memories. Mostly good ones."
"Are you insane?" she whispered, her fear momentarily replaced by sheer disbelief. "This isn't a game!"
"Isn't it?" I leaned in closer, my lips almost brushing her ear. "Life's a game, 'Pointy'. The goal is to come out on top. And in our case, preferably on top of each other after we're done. Now, hold still. I'm about to do something that might hurt."
Thud!
However, before I had the chance to do anything, one of the ogres noticed me.
"Gruk, Elf move funny," he grunted, stomping toward us. His shadow fell over us, a hulking monolith of gray skin and crude ambition. "She broken?"
"Hope not," another laughed. "Break later."
"What?" I glared at the approaching ogre, the biggest of the three. I assumed he was the leader. Let's call him 'Gruk' since he kept saying that word.
He stopped in front of us, tilting his head as if examining a particularly interesting bug. His beady eyes roamed over my bare chest, then over Vespera's, a low rumble building in his chest.
"Gruk likes big elves," he growled, reaching out a massive, grime-caked hand. "Gruk empty now."
He pointed meaningfully at his loincloth. "Gruk fill."
Vespera flinched, a terrified whimper escaping her lips. Her body went rigid against mine. I could feel her heart hammering against my ribcage like a trapped bird. Then I saw her taking a deep breath as if she was about to dive into cold water and...
PSHHH!
I didn't have time to understand or react when suddenly a warm liquid hit my face and chest.
"WHAT THE FUCK!!" I yelped, glancing up at the source of this... this... warm... liquid.
It was piss.
The ogre was pissing on me... Us!!!.
His stream of yellow, foul-smelling piss was hitting us directly in the face, using one of the ugliest cocks I have ever seen. It was like a rotten, wrinkled sausage.
"BWAHAHAHA!" the other two ogres roared with laughter, slapping their knees.
"Gruk mark new toys!"
I didn't scream. I didn't even blink as the warm, stinging liquid ran down my nose and splashed against my chest, mixing with the sweat already coating my skin.
For a heartbeat, there was total silence in my head. Even Herma seemed to have gone offline out of pure digital shock.
Then, the rage hit. It wasn't the cold, calculated fury of a goddess. It was the white-hot, ego-driven "I am going to turn your intestines into a necktie" kind of rage.
"You... you... filth!" Vespera choked out, her face pale with horror as she tried to turn away from the stream, her silver hair now matted and damp. She looked like she wanted to vomit and die at the same time. The piss had ruined her; it was an insult beyond any she had ever conceived.
"WHAT THE FUCK!" I roared again, spitting out the bitter taste that had managed to seep past my lips. My stomach churned, but I forced it down. No way was I giving these ugly bastards the satisfaction of seeing me puke. "You disgusting piece of shit! I'm gonna rip that shriveled dick off and shove it down your throat!"
"Gruk like feisty elf!" the leader—yeah, Gruk—chortled, shaking off the last drops with a grotesque wiggle of his hips. That floppy, wart-covered thing swung like a dead snake, and I nearly retched again just looking at it. "Now elves belong to Gruk! Marked! Smells like Gruk!"
He turned back to the fire, completely dismissive, as if pissing on two bound elves was as mundane as scratching his ass. He had no idea. Not a single fucking clue that he hadn't just marked territory; he'd just signed his own death warrant in the most degrading way possible.
"Don't worry, Ves," I whispered, my voice sounding like gravel under a boot. "Consider this a baptism. Because after this, I'm sending these three to hell."
"Please... just... shut up," she whimpered, her body trembling uncontrollably against mine.
Now that I think about it, this wasn't the first time the ogres did this to her. Her reaction wasn't that of a 'first-timer', more like a 'victim with PTSD'. Moreover, the foul stench around her was a mix of old and new.
"Sigh..."
I didn't pull against the chains. I didn't try to use magic. I used the one thing the Null-Cuffs didn't account for.
Density.
My body wasn't just flesh and bone; it was divine matter compressed into a mortal shape. I planted my feet, ignored the "holy spear" currently being squashed between Vespera and me, and gave a violent, explosive jerk of my hips and shoulders.
CRACK.
The iron ring bolted into the cave wall didn't just slide out—it brought half the rock face with it. The chain holding my right arm snapped at the link, the metal whining in protest as it gave way to my sheer physical strength.
I didn't stop. I couldn't. The smell of ogre piss was stinging my nostrils, and the sensation of it drying on my skin was the ultimate motivator.
"Gruk?!" the leader shouted, spinning around just in time to see me rip the second bolt clean out of the stone.
"My turn, you wrinkled sack of shit!" I roared.
The sound was like a thunderclap in the cramped cave. Dust and pebbles rained down on us as I lurched forward, still chained to Vespera by our bound wrists. The Null-Cuff was still on my arm, draining my magic, but it did nothing to stop my divine muscle.
"Hey, 'Pointy'!" I yelled, yanking her along as I stumbled toward the ogres. "Ever seen an ogre's spine come out of its mouth?!"
"Hey! Stop! You'll get us killed!" she screamed, trying to dig her heels into the dirt, but I was a force of nature. I dragged her behind me like a ragdoll.
"Kill you? Honey, I'm your fucking salvation! Now kick!"
Gruk recovered faster than I expected. He let out a guttural roar, grabbed the massive axe he'd been sharpening, and swung it in a wide, horizontal arc aimed at my waist. I didn't try to dodge. That was a mortal's move.
I shoved Vespera hard, forcing her into the dirt just as the rusted blade whistled through the air.
CLANG.
The sound wasn't the wet thwack of an axe meeting flesh. It was the high-pitched ring of steel hitting something much, much harder. The impact sent a jar through my entire frame, vibrating right down to my teeth, but I didn't budge. My skin didn't even break. Instead, the edge of the ogre's axe crumpled like a cheap soda can against my waist, the shaft nearly snapping from the sheer force of the recoil.
"Elf not soft!" Gruk's beady eyes almost popped out of his skull. "Elf... metal?"
"Worse," I growled, grabbing the axe head with my free hand and crushing the metal in my grip. "I'm a Goddess who's covered in your piss. And I am very picky about my golden showers."
With a roar that probably shook the mountain, I yanked the axe—and Gruk—toward me. He was heavy, but to my current level of adrenaline-fueled density, he was a sack of potatoes. I spun on my heel, the chain linking me to Vespera snapping taut, and used the momentum to slam my elbow right into the center of Gruk's face.
The sound of his nose and orbital bones disintegrating was the most beautiful music I'd heard all day.
"One!" I shouted, watching him fly backward, but—
"KYAAAHH!"
"Oh shit!"
I made a slight... tiny mistake.
I forgot where I pushed Vespera, and the ogre landed right on top of her with a sickening THUD and a cry of pain. And... this ogre, Gruk, was only covering his front with that loincloth, leaving the backside 'free'.
And that 'free' side fell on top of the dark elf. So now... she was stuck between his giant, gray, hairy ass.
"EWWWW! GET OFF ME, YOU FILTH!"
"Welp~... this is awkward,"