"Mmph!" Anna, blindfolded and gagged, could neither see nor speak. Her legs were twisted into knots, her arms bound elbow-to-elbow like Sophia's before, with wrist ropes tethered to her crotch rope.
She writhed desperately. Her clothes remained, as Fidel savored tormenting a witch hunter, her attire emphasizing her identity, amplifying the humiliation's perverse thrill.
"Oh, the livestock escaped their pens. Your partner's doing, I presume," Fidel's keen vampire ears caught something.
"Mmph!" Anna thrashed, ignoring the crotch rope's bite. She didn't want Fidel pursuing Isaac. By resisting fiercely, she drew his focus, risking worse abuse but keeping Isaac safe.
"Heh, Isaac, is it?" Anna hadn't anticipated Fidel's mind-reading. Against spell-based telepathy, like Fidel's, Occlumency could shield her. But psychic or other mind-reading required Heartwall, a rare skill mastered by Safisanis psions—and, uniquely, Sophia Dominatrix. Anna's witch hunter hat offered magic resistance, but she'd left it for combat ease. Mind-reading wasn't her main concern; mind control was, and her iron will countered that. She'd neglected telepathy defenses.
But Fidel had pierced her weakness: Isaac.
"Guess I'll castrate Isaac, dangle his parts before you, hogtie you in front of him, and let you lovers rot together."
"Mmphhh!" Anna's muffled protest surged. She couldn't let this happen.
"Butcher, kneel and beg me—service me—and I'll spare Isaac," Fidel taunted, exploiting human frailty. His hands gripped her roped breasts from behind, his tongue licking her neck, biting.
"Mmph! Mmph!" Anna's body betrayed her, aroused as Fidel injected an aphrodisiac like Sophia's. "Mmph!" Fidel kneaded her breasts, teleporting to her front, biting her gag, kissing through it.
"Mmph!"
"Butcher, kneel, say, 'Please use me, Master,' and I'll let Isaac go."
Anna was torn. She distrusted Estruchs, but Isaac…
What should she do?
A woman's voice echoed: "Enough of this damsel-in-distress nonsense. Once I save the little bitch, we're tied, fourteen-all!"
"How…" Fidel gaped at Sophia, Isaac, and Jane approaching, undetected.
"No sound?" Sophia wore a Gothic vampire suit scavenged from the castle: a white shirt with a bikini-like hem hugging her thighs, a short-tailed jacket, and Bloodwing as a trench coat, cinched at the waist. Black fishnets clad her legs, black heels accentuating them. The silver collar, seamless, remained locked on her neck.
"Thanks to Little Jane's Silence spell."
Jane, pale but recovering mana, stood nearby.
"Why do you have van Dyne's Moonshine?"
"I told you, I'm the Daywalker's friend, mongrel," Sophia purred.
"No… you're… the Impaler!" Fidel released Anna, who crashed to the floor, whimpering in pain.
"Don't be so scared. How's this: I fight you without magic or bloodline powers. If you win, I'll be your sex slave. Deal?"
"You think I'm an idiot? For 700 years, none who crossed blades with the Impaler survived!" Fidel vanished, absolutely invisible.
"Father! Don't leave me!" Peter, slumped, pierced by Anna's silver bolts, unhealed, wailed.
"Little bitch, we're even, fourteen-all. Zack, Little Jane, step back. His Absolute Invisibility hides sound and infrared. I'm helpless, truly stumped," Sophia said. Isaac and Jane retreated.
Suddenly, Sophia parried with Moonshine. Clang! She blocked an unseen strike, countering. A severed, sword-wielding arm materialized, bleeding, falling.
"Heh, what an idiot. I spoke truth—without magic or bloodline, I can't see you. But you're dumb enough to attack. Your stealth strike couldn't withstand one of my blows. A mongrel's a mongrel," Sophia sneered. She couldn't detect Fidel, but as the world's supreme swordmaster, her danger precognition—sixth sense—outmatched him. His swordsmanship, far inferior, doomed his ambush. Sophia's feigned weakness lured him into overconfidence.
Jane, seeing hope, said, "Isaac, Master Sophie, that wounded vampire wronged me. Let me finish him."
"Do as you like. I've no sick urge to kill mongrels," Sophia replied, her eyes blood-red, fangs bared, terrifying. Her gaze alone could unnerve.
Drawing on 800 years of combat, Sophia flicked Moonshine, its power amplified hundredfold by its true owner. It morphed into a whip, slicing an arc.
Slash! A leg, trailing blood, appeared. Fidel crashed down.
Sophia charged. In despair, Fidel raised his remaining hand, firing a green beam.
Death's Finger.
In other worlds, dark wizards cast it via wands. Its sole effect: death. Some call it an unforgivable curse.
Dragons might survive, but for vampires, even the mightiest, a direct hit meant bodily death, with only their undead resilience allowing revival if strong enough. Lesser vampires died instantly.
Sophia smirked. Her Bloodwing coat parted, exposing her chest to the beam.
Blocking it would trigger Bloodwing's effects, but Sophia craved fear—despair before death.
The beam struck her chest. As a lich, her body should've died.
She grimaced, eyes rolling back, collapsing.
Fidel rejoiced.
Sophia sprang up, her collapse a ruse, merely—
Nosebleeding.
"Fooled you, mongrel!" Her eyes snapped back, red and feral, fangs gleaming. Wielding Moonshine, she charged.
The shattered hope, the despair—this was her goal: Fidel's torment before death.
Behind, two fireballs clashed.
Boom!
"Dear meat slave Jane, killing your master?" Peter, despite bolts, wielded spells Jane taught.
"You're no student. Show respect!" Jane's mana, depleted by Sophia's pinnacle spell, had partially recovered via Sophia's "awakening" ritual.
"I'm your master." Peter summoned undead Sergei, who dove at Jane. "He's your student."
"Sorry, Sergei." Jane's fireball dusted him.
"Teacher Lancaster murdered her student!" Peter lunged.
Too close.
Elemental Body! Jane became a towering, five-meter fire elemental.
"What!"
"I taught you: mages aren't glass cannons," she roared, punching Peter. He flew, cracking the castle wall.
The elemental spat flames, searing Peter.
Behind, Isaac freed Anna. She rushed forward: "Ms. Lancaster! Fire won't kill him! He's a vampire!"
Jane stopped. Anna grabbed her discarded belt, pulling a stake. She drove it into Peter's charred heart.
A soul's scream filled the room. Peter crumbled to dust.
Fidel, legless, heard his "son's" death but focused on Sophia, ten steps away. Using the castle's acceleration array, he could teleport away. The Impaler seemed magic-less; escape meant survival.
He gathered mana for teleportation.
Sophia smirked. She couldn't close the distance in time.
But disrupting magic was simpler.
A technique only elite swordmasters, versed in magic's mechanics, could use. Few swordmasters qualified, needing a magic-affecting blade.
Sophia, master of magic and sword, wielded Moonshine, such a weapon.
She pinpointed the spell's vibration node, stabbing precisely. Her wrist vibrated at magical frequencies.
In Shenzhou—home to Nippon, Silla, and Zhendan—this was called:
One Sword Breaks All Magic!
Moonshine pierced the air, shattering space like glass.
Fidel's spell collapsed: "Wha—"
Before he finished, Moonshine beheaded him.
But Fidel persisted. Cunning, he'd stored brain functions in his spine, thinking and regrowing a head without a brain.
"Not so fast." Moonshine pierced his shifting heart.
More lethal than holy-water stakes, Moonshine unleashed a soul-wrenching wail across the castle.
Before his soul faded, Sophia, eyes blazing with hatred, grabbed rubble, smashing Fidel's pain-sensitive spots. Blood splattered her demonic face, but she continued, pounding until his soul was purified by Moonshine, his body ash. She kept striking the soulless dust, caving the floor, before stopping.
"You should thank my magic and bloodline limits," her blood-soaked face snarled. "Or your soul would've suffered ten thousandfold, mongrel."
Jane slumped by Sergei's ashes, Anna and Isaac beside her.
"Ms. Lancaster, if I'd known we'd meet again…" Anna tried consoling.
"Enough. It's our fate," Jane said.
"What happened?" Sophia returned, Bloodwing wiping her face, Moonshine sheathed.
"Nothing," Jane said, eyeing the ashes.
"Friend? Adventuring buddy?" Sophia asked.
"A student I failed," Jane said mournfully.
Sophia spotted a Gothic table with wine bottles—blood. "Got it! To repay Little Jane for untying me, I'll return the favor!" She zipped to the table, grabbing bottles. "Zack, grab some!"
"What're you—"
Sophia chugged a bottle, overpowering her collar's suppression with Absolute Suppression Field.
"Spell-trigger and silent-casting Absolute Suppression Field?!" Jane gaped.
"A legendary mage!" Jane revered Sophia.
"What're you doing?" Jane puzzled.
"Reviving your friend," Sophia said, spitting. "Ugh, vile thoughts. Can't mongrels find tastier blood?" Her blood-reading sensed the donor's evil.
"R-revive? Full Resurrection?!" Jane's eyes widened.
Full Resurrection, a pinnacle spell, truly revived the dead.
But it wasn't simple. Not all pinnacle spells were masterable.
In other worlds, resurrection was divine, cast by clerics via gods' power—divine magic.
Mages used math and technique, drawing from the world's magic web—arcane magic.
In this world, clerics prayed for power, but no systematic divine magic existed. Most clerics couldn't cast pinnacle spells, as divine and arcane were both "magic," with pinnacle as the apex.
If magic had a ceiling, like light's speed, supreme mage spells were superluminal—impossible. Pinnacle spells were the ceiling, light's speed.
More mages than clerics cast pinnacle spells, like Master Gail, whom Sophia killed. But divine-realm spells required mimicking divine magic with arcane, nearly impossible.
Hence Jane's shock.
Only Merlin, Albion's supreme mage, had resurrected King Arthur.
"You can cast Full Resurrection? But Sergei's body is ash, and he's undead—resurrection doesn't work on them," Jane said, hope fading.
"Full Resurrection's easy," Sophia scoffed. "But I'll try the old lech dragon's spell!"
"What?" Jane watched Sophia crouch by Sergei's ashes, miming a safe dial. Even chantless Sophia intoned.
In Draconic, a green magical dial—like a clock—formed.
Sophia turned its hands counterclockwise. Ashes reformed, as if—
Time reversed!
Jane covered her mouth. Effect-wise, it was pinnacle-level, but harder than Full Resurrection.
Sergei's undead body reconstituted. The dial vanished. Sophia, sweating, said, "That old dragon's spell's potent!"
"But how to revive him? He's undead. Can Full Resurrection turn zombies human?" Jane asked cautiously.
"Of course. But I'll try a new trick. Watch, Little Jane!" Sophia chanted in Draconic, High Elven, and mythical Creation Tongue.
Jane stared, unblinking. Pinnacle-level, not beyond theoretical limits, but ten times harder than most pinnacle spells.
Sophia's left hand wielded necromancy, her right Full Resurrection's life energy. Only mastering both extremes enabled this spell.
Sergei's undeath faded, life emerging. Sophia collapsed, exhausted, as Sergei revived fully.
"Sergei!" Jane wept, embracing her lively student.
"Little Jane, thank me. Call it Dominatrix Life-Death Conversion!" Sophia panted, her collar's suppression returning.
"What happened?" Sergei stared at his hands. "Death's Finger hit me, then… Teacher! I'm sorry…" He recalled tormenting Jane under Peter's undead control.
"No more!" Jane sobbed. "Peter's dead. Master Dominatrix revived you."
"Revived?" Sergei gaped at Sophia. "Thank you, Master!"
"Little Jane, how'd you know I'm Dominatrix?" Sophia asked, prone.
"You named the spell Dominatrix Life-Death Conversion, and the vampire called you Impaler. You're Silania's Dominatrix, right?"
"Smart Little Jane! Zack, I'm beat. Blood!"
Isaac brought a bottle. "Princess Sophia, your drink."
Sophia… Jane recalled Sergei's crater jest about a Dominatrix vampiress.
"You're a supreme mage!"
--------------------------------------------------
After defeating the foes, they rested, looted, and prepared to leave for new adventures.
Sophia found Burg's baron and Lynn, healing his necrotic hands with magic. Isaac sent them with the chest to inform the army of their safety and the vampires' demise, to await their return.
Eager for "adventure," Sophia lingered, scavenging fine loot.
Isaac, Anna, Sergei, and Jane, now Sophia's ardent admirer, stayed.
--------------------------------------------------
A day later…
Anna, Isaac, Sergei, Jane, and collared Sophia left the castle.
Bloodwing reverted to a cloak. Sophia's Gothic suit remained, with a red bow at her collar, like a magician. Fishnets and heels showcased her legs. She resembled Zatanna from another world, save her purple hair and no top hat.
"Little Jane, use what I taught. You can cast it!" Sophia grinned at her fan.
"Yes, Master Dominatrix!" Jane chanted, summoning four fireballs—no, meteors—devastating the castle.
Meteor Swarm, the simplest pinnacle spell. Seventy percent of "grand mages" only knew this.
"Damn, not enough! Again!" Sophia handed Jane Bloodheart.
Bloodheart stored grand mage mana, but Sophia's frivolous spells—like conjuring clothes or turning people into animals—clogged its circuits.
Jane, guided by Sophia, cleared Bloodheart's pathways, enabling it to hold mana beyond Jane's capacity. Unlike Jane's mental mana, manipulating world magic, Bloodheart stored pure world-derived energy. In magic-dead zones, Jane's mana was useless, but Bloodheart's pre-refined energy worked anywhere, even magicless worlds.
Four more meteors razed half the castle. Another four obliterated it, draining Bloodheart.
"Master, is this okay?"
"No problem! Recharge tomorrow, Little Jane. The mongrel's castle is gone!" Sophia crowed fearlessly.
"Yes, Master!"
"Now, bind me!" Sophia tossed holy ropes to Isaac.
"Huh?" Isaac blinked.
"I'm adventuring!" Bloodwing fell off. Sophia backed her hands to Isaac. "No evil plugs!"
"Fine, no plugs." Isaac bound her elbows.
"Why bind for adventure?" he asked, tying her arms.
"Idiot Zack! We're going to the capital to investigate why Clement targeted me! I must arrive as a captive. Humans won't believe otherwise!"
"You just want fun," Isaac muttered, roping her chest and fishnet-clad groin.
"You! No disrespect to Master Dominatrix!" Jane's professorial authority cowed Isaac.
"Ms. Lancaster, she asked," Isaac stammered.
"Little Jane, binding's fun. Try it!" Sophia teased while being tied.
"Too shameful…" Jane demurred.
"Binding helps practice spell-triggering," Sophia winked.
"Fine…" Jane caved, losing her professorial air.
"Wait till I'm bound, Little Jane! Practice my Dominatrix Binding first. Conjure ropes! Oh, and the little bitch! Since you saved me—shamefully captured, nearly a meat toilet—I forgive your plugs!" Sophia, bound, acted boss.
"You'd be a sex slave without me!" Anna retorted.
"Tch, without me, you'd be kneeling, begging, 'Oh, Master, use my body, spare Isaac, I'm your slave!'" Sophia mimicked Anna's voice.
"I was careless saving you, demoness!" Anna blushed.
"Tch, saving Zack, you mean!" Isaac bound Sophia's legs, but she played leader. "I smell you two on each other."
Isaac and Anna flushed. Isaac, finishing Sophia's legs, yanked her crotch rope. She collapsed, wailing, "Zack! Bully!"
"No disrespect to Master!" Jane scolded.
"Little Jane, stay out! I'll take Zack's abuse alone and crush this adulterous pair!"
"Sorry, Master!" Jane backed off.
Isaac, blushing, eyed Sophia. "Princess, Anna initiated…"
Anna flushed. "Sorry, Isaac…"
"Tch, you dogs ganging up on me!" Sophia huffed.
Isaac brandished the gag. "Princess, forgot this?"
"Hmph! Caught by a vampire slayer, abuse me! But lock the bitch's chastity belt, or I'll never yield!"
"Fine." Isaac glanced at Anna, who nodded, craving his control's security.
"But the belt's at camp…" Isaac sighed.
"Easy! Tell Sergei the direction and distance!"
"Southeast, three kilometers."
"Bit far. Walk first! Zack, carry me!"
Isaac, servant-like, hoisted Sophia, donning her cloak. They trekked.
"Close enough! Sergei, use my spell!"
"Yes, Master!" Sergei bellowed, "Ura!" A portal opened.
Anydoor, a spell for short-range travel.
"Teacher, I cast Anydoor! Graduated, full mage, right?" Sergei beamed.
"Complete Master's task first! Without her, you'd never progress!" Jane urged.
"Ura!" Sergei vanished through the portal.
Minutes later, "Ura!" Sergei returned with Isaac's restraint bag.
"Nearly spotted, but I went invisible," Sergei panted.
Isaac set Sophia down, retrieving the belt.
"Lock the bitch!"
"Fine! But the Russian blinds himself!" Anna matched Sophia's bravado.
Sergei blindfolded himself. Anna, cautious, pulled Isaac 50 meters away, ensuring privacy. She dropped her pants and panties. Isaac inserted the belt's plugs.
"Ah! Gentle!" Anna yelped.
"Sorry, Mistress," Isaac smirked.
Anna glared, redressing, facing Sophia, who "supervised." "Locked. Gag her?"
"No!" Sophia snapped.
"You liar!" Anna fumed.
"You get bound and gagged too!"
"Outrageous!" Anna stormed to Sophia.
"What're you—"
"What do you think?" Unbound, Anna kicked Sophia's crotch rope, toppling her in pain.
"Aaah!"
Without Sophia's "no interference" rule, Jane would've hexed Anna.
"Belmont fifteen, Dominatrix fourteen!" Anna laughed.
"Zack, your bedmate's bullying me! Bind her!" Sophia wailed.
"Fine, bind her," Isaac sighed.
"Isaac, you're bewitched!" Anna snapped.
"You kicked her," Isaac countered, grabbing ropes.
"You!" Anna huffed, feigning resistance as Isaac bound her arms in a W, then her legs.
"You favor the vampiress!" Anna grumbled.
"You started it," Isaac said.
"Now gag her!"
"No, you first!" Sophia shot back.
"Why?" Anna raged.
"I saved you!"
"Fine, Isaac, gag me!" Anna relented.
Isaac fitted Anna's bit gag, securing her red hair.
"Wait!" Sophia stalled as Isaac approached with her gag.
"Mmph!" Anna glared at Sophia's trickery.
"Why wait?"
"Give me the master key. I'll swallow it."
"What?"
"Idiot, vampires have a pre-stomach for blood, clean, controlled by our organs. We store valuables there, spitting them out. It's for self-rescue if this happens again!"
"No shackles this time."
"But the key opens doors, chests!"
"Fine, open." Isaac held the key.
"Ah—Mmph?!" Isaac dropped the key on her tongue, shoving the gag in before she swallowed.
"Mmphhh!" Sophia, furious at Isaac's trick, rolled, wailing.
"Mmph-ha!" Anna laughed at her plight.
Bound and gagged, they shuffled with Isaac. Jane, seeing them, worried, "Are they okay?"
"Fine!" Isaac explained the key's safety inside Sophia.
"Master Dominatrix," Jane, ever logical, spotted a flaw.
"Mmph?"
"You swallowed the key, but the gag needs it to unlock. How'll you retrieve it?"
"Mmph?!" Anna and Sophia, bound and reliant on the key, wailed in panic.