When Saikawa Kotori lived on Earth, she had never been particularly timid about her body. As an intellectual, she recognized that the taboo surrounding nudity was a social construct, and frankly there was no reason to be embarrassed. Doctors and health care workers who regularly examined a diverse variety of patients no longer found most bodies erotic, and Kotori had personally studied human anatomy quite extensively back when she was in graduate school.

Ordinarily, Kotori felt no shame walking around her apartment in the nude.

This sheep homunculus also lacked clothes, but Kotori hadn't thought very much about it. The entire corpse had been burnt to crisp, so clothing was a luxury that simply wasn't available at this moment. More importantly, she had more pressing matters to deal with rather than being uselessly shy and demure about her exposed breasts.

However...

Kotori shivered.

The Hero was staring at her. She felt an unsettling amount of dread rise in her throat.

This wasn't a look that she was used to receiving. Many women were familiar with occasional lingering stares or catcalls in the streets. Men usually averted their eyes when they tried to pretend they weren't looking, and Kotori simply ignored them. She always believed that she had thick skin and an indomitable will. But the Hero's gaze was different. It was intense, scrutinizing, and almost hungry. He was on the opposite side of the room, but his eyes were already feasting upon her shackled body from a distance.

He greedily soaked up the sight of her naked vulnerability.

Like a starving wolf.

"Well, I'll give you two some privacy," the Rogue commented politely from the sidelines.

"Oh come on, you should join in. This is a once-in-a-lifetime chance."

Even though there was nowhere to run, Kotori shakily pushed herself backwards. It was a futile endeavor, and she knew it deep inside. It didn't make a difference whether she crawled another five feet or twenty feet, because these chains prevented her from actually escaping. However, the anxiety in her chest practically bursting, and she needed to do something, even if it was just to make herself feel better.

A placebo effect.

It was ironic that her education made Kotori so acutely self-aware of her plight.

She bumped into something, and Kotori looked around.

It was the Demon Lord's headless corpse.

Looking at it only made the despair in her chest rise even higher. This was so morbid. Horrible. How had she even ended up in this nightmare? Why were people so cruel? Humanity was terrifying. Guns and bombs and steel were tools to inflict suffering, and it frightened her to see a crude blade figuratively pressed against her own throat.

The Hero could do whatever he wanted. The overwhelming power enabled him to do so.

Humans were no different from demons when they were drunk with power.

"Like I said earlier, I'm not attracted to demi-humans," the Rogue repeated again.

"Don't you think the sheep girl must be someone special? Rather than conserving his energy, the Demon Lord came all the way down here to find a girl in his dying moments. I bet you that they're lovers, or even his wife. It's such a bittersweet story. Aren't you curious about what makes her so exceptional?"

The Rogue sighed and said nothing.

Meanwhile, Kotori continued to slowly crawl away. She intended to go around the Demon Lord, but her hand accidentally brushed across the Demon Lord's fingers. 

It was burning hot.

The sheep girl was startled as she looked down at their hands. The heat was just like before, flooding into her body. Kotori didn't understand why Mephistos's corpse still had this kind of effect. Wasn't he dead? She entwined her fingers with his as she clutched his bloody hand. Although it was scalding hot at first, it felt more comfortable after a few seconds passed. The heat adjusted itself to a milder temperature, and her insides were filled with a toasty warmth — a little bit like drinking hot chocolate or visiting a hot spring on a frigid winter day.

Kotori glanced at the Demon Lord's naked chest, and then the thought suddenly struck her.

She instantly dropped his hand and practically pounced to his abdomen. She needed to confirm it to be sure... but... 

...The wounds were closed.

The places where she had touched Demon Lord Mephistos earlier had sealed entirely.

She hadn't noticed it earlier because the effects were delayed, but Kotori was positive about her observations. The Demon Lord was still bleeding from a dozen other sites, so there was hardly a difference overall, but something had happened. She had been able to do something, and she clung to those thoughts frantically.

Kotori heard the Rogue bidding his farewell on the other end of the room. Apparently, he had declined the Hero's attempt to be 'friendly' again, and was now leaving. She realized at this point that the Hero would likely turn his attention to her any moment now.

There wasn't enough time to go treating each wound one-by-one. Almost desperately, she threw herself atop Mephistos's body, trying to maximize the surface area where her skin contacted his flesh. She groped around almost furiously with her bound hands, trying to reach every corner of his body that still had a major injury. She probably looked like a frenzied woman in terrible grief over her lover's corpse, but Kotori didn't care. If anything, it would be more convenient for her if the Hero misunderstood her behavior.

Barely twenty seconds passed, and then there was a painful tug on Kotori's head.

Suddenly, she was suspended in the air, kicking and flailing. The Hero had grabbed her by her horns.

He laughed.

"I killed him. Do you miss him? Is he your lover? Do you hate me because of that?"

Kotori struggled silently. Honestly, she wanted to flip him off, but she couldn't speak with the chains around her throat.

"Spirited, aren't you? I like that. Say 'baa' for me, will you?"

She resisted even further. Technically, Kotori knew that she wasn't supposed to, since some rapists get aroused when their victims struggle. In that situation, an encounter was more likely to turn violent, so she had heard long ago that the correct response was to lie completely still until the man lost interest.

However, Kotori was clinging to a tiny sliver a hope in her head. In all likelihood, it was a completely delusional hope, but she clung to it with her dear life. Even if she was totally wrong, the tiny hope gave her the mental fortitude to deal with this distressing nightmare.

...If the the Demon Lord... could stand up again... it would be better if the Hero was distracted.

So Kotori tried to kick the Hero.

He responded by slamming her into a large boulder that had fallen from the ceiling, and she gasped. His free hand went to fondle her breasts, and Kotori squirmed underneath his touch.

"C'mon, make some noises for me," he goaded her further.

The sheep girl struggled defiantly, and the Hero seemed to realize at this point that the collar around her neck kept her silenced. He seemed displeased by this impediment, so he reached for her throat. With a tremendous show of brute force, he snapped the golden band in half. The metal pieces dropped to the floor, clattering as they struck the ground.

"Fuck you," Kotori immediately spat.

The Hero grinned and leaned closer. His left hand wandered to the crevice between her legs.

He murmured into her ears, "I think you're the one who's in need of a fuck."

The silver-haired man pushed in with two fingers, and Kotori stiffened. He tweaked her nipples with his opposite hand, all while biting down on Kotori's elongated ears. The sheep girl grimaced. Tears had suddenly welled up in her eyes. She could feel her thoughts fading, and her head almost went blank with pain, but she tried to keep ahold of herself.

Kotori desperately reminded herself that sex was all about control.

The loss of control made it terrifying, so she couldn't let herself succumb to that mental state.

Kotori gasped a few times she fought to keep her breath under control.

Breath. Breath. Don't think.

Grunting, she tried to turn the tables by suddenly kissing the man. Kotori was forceful and abrupt, almost like a tiger pouncing its prey as she lunged into him. Her chained wrists went south, down towards the Hero's crotch as she searched frantically for his belt. She did it without the slightest bit of feeling in her heart. Kotori wasn't an innocent and clueless maiden. She was 34 years old and very experienced with Tokyo's dating scene. Every woman with a certain amount of maturity in bed knew how to fake their enjoyment to stroke a man's ego.

Miraculously, the Hero seemed to respond favorably.

He groaned, relaxing the arms that kept her pinned against the boulder. His breath was steamy and hot as Kotori invaded more aggressively, her tongue pushing into his oral cavity. Interestingly, the human seemed to really enjoy the passive role, and it allowed Kotori to steadily lift the Hero off to the side. Immediately, she rolled over and threw her entire weight at him, so the Hero was the one pressed against the wall. Now, their positions were reversed, although neither of them were under any illusions about who really controlled this situation.

Even if Kotori was temporarily on top, it was only because the Hero allowed it.

Kotori's fingers found the clasp to his belt, and she quickly unfastened it, her hands slipping underneath his pants.

The Hero groaned again, his eyes closed.

"Yeah baby... that's it..."

She found his cock and enveloped her hands around it.

It was hard and warm.

He panted feverishly as she started to stroke his shaft rhythmically.

"Damn, you aren't the innocent little lamb as one might think."

"I hate you," Kotori responded with a low growl, which was her true feelings. 

However the Hero's pulsating dick reacted extremely well, so he seemed to receive it as some kind of dirty talk. In either case, Kotori was fortunate. The man seemed to have a thing for aggressive women. Hopefully, she could tire him out and get him to ejaculate, which would essentially allow her to escape this encounter without experiencing the worst of it.

His arms grabbed Kotori's horns, and he pulled on them for leverage as he thrusted against her hands. The Hero was so close to cumming.

Out of nowhere, the was an explosive splatter of blood.

The excruciating pain came afterwards. Only a few moments later did she realize that there was a demonic claw sticking out from her chest. An arm had passed cleanly through her rib cage, and it went straight through to pierce the Hero in the heart. Bloody phlegm erupted from from Kotori's mouth, as she realized belatedly that she had been stabbed through the back.

The Hero screamed.

His blood exploded over Kotori's body as the black claw withdrew from the two skewered victims, holding a pulsating organ inside those razor-like fingers.

Kotori didn't need to turn around to know who it was.

It was the Demon Lord. He had used her as a disposable shield to attack the Hero.

Kotori coughed violently as pain endorphins turned her vision white. The Hero had shoved her away, and she collapsed in a crumple on the ground. She was struggling to breath. There was a hole in her chest cavity right through her lungs, and her gasps were shallow and rapid.

"Damn you Mephistos!" The Hero shrieked as he stumbled unsteadily to the side.

He was clutching his empty chest cavity as his hands rapidly draw some small shapes in the air, casting some kind of spell.

Then, there was a flash of light, and the golden knight was gone, teleported away without a trace.

Faintly out of her peripheral version, Kotori could see the Demon Lord.

He was headless. His right arm was bloody and dripping with fresh gore. The bottom half of his body stood vacantly, almost like it had moved automatically on its own. It was completely motionless. Slowly, the headless corpse dropped to its knees and slammed into the ground unceremoniously.

Dead as it had been before.

∎

ohko

I'm really sorry to the readers who dislike this kind of thing and read through this. This is actually my first time writing real "smut", and I wanted to portray it differently than the way it's often shown in erotica. Specifically, I wanted to cover a perspective that many readers may be less familiar with, even if it's very uncomfortable and dark. Honestly, this isn't even really intended to be particularly erotic.

Anyhow, this is probably the limit of non-consensual content for this series. We passed the hump in the initial arc, so things should be moving upwards from here! I apologize that there doesn't seem to be much fluff so far, but it will come slowly. Again, I'm aiming for a positive relationship between Kotori and the Demon Lord, although it's possible there might still be some hair-pulling with how dense certain characters might be.