Chapter 15 - A big step forward

"Hmm? Is that so?" The dusty inn room echoed with a chuckle.

Having just shut the windows after her pet's return, only a dim lantern illuminated the dank room. Smiling to herself, she carefully listened to the winged spy recounting everything that it had seen in the castle.

"So he did manage to turn his first slave, huh?" Pulling on the shoulder strap of her laced nightgown, she let out a suspecting hum. "I could've waged he would chicken out of it. But…I suppose even I can be wrong sometimes, or perhaps he just had some expert support." She added before brushing the strap off her body to completely unburden her strapped breasts.

Reaching into the fruit basket resting by the study, she took out a ripe berry and held it for the palm-sized spy to feed on. Nomming on the fruit, the bat seemed content with its reward, however, as if something had just popped into its mind, it stopped all movement and looked up at Moriyana.

"What is it?" She asked, picking up a quill from her other hand. "I have work that needs to be done, so out with it already."

"I…" The bat struggled to form words but kept going, "Do-does…t-misstres-s, k-k-know?"

Turning up the lantern's flame, she put the berry back into the basket. Being a slave peddler she had mountains of workload laying heavily over her shoulders. Documentations of sales, compiling a long list of clients, and even maintaining the curses binding the slaves to their master, and that wasn't even the half of it.

'The last thing I want is more headache.'

"I do not have time to report everything to the mistress," Picking up a feathered pen, she dipped it into the quill. "Besides, she's grown so weary that she wastes most of her time slumbering in the abyss."

"B-bu-but…"

"Parrot…Stick to your station and don't meddle where you don't need to," Glaring at the bat, she forced on a smile. "I'll tell the mistress what I need to, you don't have to remind me of my duties, I'm busy trying to attend to them all already."

Lowering its head, the bat named Parrot flew away from the desk. It knew that if it had stayed any longer by her side, that smile on her face would've turned into something much more sinister.

As if I can trust her, despite her efforts to restore her powers she had only grown weaker by each passing day. It's probably best to look for another master or perhaps… Burying herself into the paperwork, Moriyana's mind wandered in thought. That boy…If nothing else, then maybe I can use him to surpass her. In the condition she's in it shouldn't be that hard.

Watching her from the bed, Parrot glared at Moriyana as she worked. Unbeknownst to her that little creature of the night had a better read on what went on in her mind than she could've ever realized.

***

Waking up at the brink of dawn, Haruki found himself in his incubus form. Laying completely naked on the bed, he looked to his side. The space beside him was empty with only a slight depression on the mattress hinting that someone had once laid there.

"Master?" A voice called from under the blankets.

Scanning down his chest, he noticed a huge bump between his thighs. Peeking her head out from between his legs, Asuka popped out with a cheeky smile.

"What are you doin-" Perplexed by the change in her appearance, Haruki's eyes locked onto her body.

Long violet hair flowed down her waist, and her fluffy blonde fox ears had turned into a sharp shade of violet. Glancing further down he noticed her enlarged breasts, and although he had only seen them bare once, he felt quite certain that they had substantially increased in size.

"Asuka…you've-um…" Unsure what to say, Haruki staggered with his words.

"Oh, this?" Realizing his worries, Asuka pinched her ears. "You don't have to worry master, I knew what would happen, that slave trader had warned me already."

"Do you not hate me for turning you into a monster?" Haruki remembered how he felt when Asmodia forced him into this demonic body, he expected her to foster the same rage against him as he had for Asmodia.

"I told you, didn't I? I would do anything to be with you" With a smile on her face, she squeezed her breasts with Haruki's manhood nestled in between them, "Does this feel good master?"

Trapped between her breasts, Haruki felt as if he was being squeezed between two fleshy clouds. Connected directly through the skin, the warmth from Asuka's body traveled into him, making them both feel connected with each other once again.

"Yea-yeah, it feels good," his whip-like tail moved about erratically, and as Asuka teased the tip of his penis with her tongue, his tail spanked her butt in a subconscious frenzy.

"Agh!" Yelling out a moan Asuka flopped onto Haruki's hips.

A moment passed in silence as the two recovered from the sudden outburst of tangled emotions. With his heart beginning to calm down, Haruki sat upright on the bed and pulled Asuka closer to him.

"Young master!" A sudden knock on the door petrified the duo. "The ceremony will begin soon, please don't be late."

It wasn't hard to distinguish Rose's voice from the other maid, all you had to look for was an overall sense of dread as she called out.

"I should get ready, having Michael here is an absolute hazard" Saying that he slipped from Asuka's grasp. "Mask presence!"

Declaring the spell, Haruki's body turned back into Snow. Turning to look at Asuka, he urged her to do the same.

"Mask presence!" With that, she turned back into the innocent maid with golden blonde hair.

I have to check something. Concentrating on his demonic self, he brought forth the spectral screen of stats.

"Absolute corruption, level…hp…def…agility…Healing touch, and mask presence" naming all the visible attributes, he turned to Asuka once again. "Asuka what was your rank?"

Seemingly a bit confused she tilted her head sideways.

"Rank D," She answered.

"That would mean your level should be around one to twenty, can you check for me?" Nodding her head, she closed her eyes.

"It's…level 10 now," Glancing back at Haruki, she seemed even more confused than before.

'I'm level five, but the last time I checked, I was level one. Not to mention, I've acquired her skill 'healing touch' as well,' Glancing around the spectral screen, he noticed the ability Incubus drain under the absolute corruption system. 'So I did drain her levels and even copied her abilities. But why copy and not drain it as well?'

From what he could remember about the ability from an announcement in his head, he was quite certain that the ability drains level through sexual interaction and copies the abilities from the victim.

'It doesn't make sense, I'll ask Moriyana later,' Pushing his workload for another time, Haruki walked over to the closet to pick out his clothes.

"Let go Asuka, I assume we're going to be eyed a lot today," Despite the uncertainty over how and why his abilities worked the way they did, Haruki decided to push on and get the day over with.

'Even though things are heading in the right direction, why do I feel like something drastic is about to happen?' Whether his angst was a product of caution or anxiety, he couldn't be any less certain.