Ding!
[User 'BarterBro' has sent you an invite to his domain]
Standing off my throne, I cleaned myself from all of the lovely fluids before shifting back into my normal human-like form. And although I would have loved to simply jump through the portal naked and dripping with power, I didn't—this was a business meeting, after all. Which meant… sexy bikini time.
With a snap of my fingers, my divine fabric obeyed, slithering across my body like a loyal pet, wrapping around my curves in a shimmering, barely-there ensemble of black silk and red thread. It hugged my breasts, lifted my ass just right, and sparkled with divine enchantments that screamed, "Yes, I'm powerful, and yes, I look better than you."
And I LOVE IT!
"Let's make a deal," I purred to myself, flicking my hair back.
The moment I hit Accept, a portal opened before me with a crackling hum—warped light bending and swirling like liquid glass.
I stepped through.
In an instant, the world changed and I found myself in... well. In the middle of a circus ring the person who I presumed was 'BarterBro' was a clown.
Hmm... I fucking love clowns and fucking hate them at the same time. Why? No idea. I just do.
Or maybe… maybe it's because we're all clowns, in some way, to someone.
He stood there with his rainbow afro, white-painted face, and a ridiculous smile stretched wide across cherry-red lips that looked like they'd been painted by a drunk imp. He juggled soul contracts like balloons, each one stamped with glowing red clauses, and when he spotted me, he did a little twirl and bowed deeply. The air shimmered with glitter and thinly veiled mockery.
For some reason, I had the urge to punch that face. But of course, I can't do that, yet.
"Dear customer Morgana," he chirped in a voice that rang like a sleazy game show host. "What an honor to have you in my humble little carnival of commerce!"
"Oh," I tilted my head, smiling just enough to reveal my sharp fang before my eyes wandered around studying the place.
That was nothing too fancy.
Tacky floating signs hovered in the air with phrases like "Buy One Soul, Get One Curse Free!" and "Limited-Time Reality Loopholes!" blinking in nauseating neon. Greedy little gremlin assistants scurried about on unicycles, shoving flaming contracts into the hands of confused spirits and barking up-sells like auctioneers on divine cocaine. A nearby stand offered "Interest-Free Resurrection Loans" with a fine print so long it wrapped around the tent like a serpentine noose.
"Hmmm," I let out a soft, unimpressed hum. "Charming. The aesthetic of a bankrupt demon frat party."
"Ohoho, thank you for the compliment," The clown—BarterBro, no doubt—grinned wider, which should've been physically impossible but of course gods cannot be judged by mortal limitations.
"We keep it festive. Trade is entertainment, an art, a crazy laugh in the face of desperate mortals."
BarterBro did a little jig with his oversized shoes, honking softly on every step, and then flung his arms wide as if expecting applause. One gremlin clapped. Once. Then immediately caught fire and screamed offstage.
"Everyone needs art," I spoke, ignoring the gremlins in the back screaming as the scent of burnt fur wafted through the air. "Yours just happens to involve fine print, hidden fees, and dancing like a buffoon while mortals sell their souls for a second chance at mediocrity."
BarterBro gasped—loudly, dramatically—pressing a gloved hand to his chest as if I'd shot him with a bullet made of sarcasm. "Mediocrity? Oh, Morgana, please. I deal in hope, darling. And hope is the most expensive thing in the cosmos."
"Not in my market. In my domain, you pay in sweat, screams, moans, and satisfied wombs."
"Ah yes," he chuckled, spinning in place until the buttons of his ridiculous tailcoat popped off with the force of his ego. "You run the… pleasure economy. Very lucrative. Very sticky."
Now I really want to punch the clown in the face.
"Enough talk," I grinned smugly, showing off my fangs, "let's get into the business part, shall we? I'm a very busy goddess, you know."
"Naturally, naturally," he said and made a magic move with his hand, and in an instant—
BOOF.
A giant black box fell from the ceiling and slammed into the center of the ring with a seismic crack, the floor splintering beneath it like a stage giving way under the weight of divine secrets.
I waved a hand, dispersing the smoke with a lazy flick. My eyes narrowed on the box—tall, sleek, and humming with restrained magic. No locks. No seals. Just a single glowing sigil on the front—the collar symbol.
"This is the product you have requested," he said, walking toward the black box, patting the surface, "I run a strict business here goddess and as an apology for my delay in replying to your message I'm willing to grant you the product free of charge."
I raised a single brow, eyes locked on the box and the glowing collar symbol etched into its face, trying not to comment on the way of treating live beings as products.
"Free of charge?" I said slowly, careful with my tone. I smelled something foul, even with the protection the Nexus provides I can't be too careful.
"Yes... Think of it as a gesture of goodwill." the clown spoke, taking a step toward me, and handing me a black and pink business card. "I have a feeling that you and I will make many profitable trades in the future, you can use this card to access our VIP products."
I took the card without a word but kept smiling at him. Then my eyes shifted back to the box.
"What's the deal with her?"
"Ah.. right," the clown made another gesture, and the box opened slowly revealing the inside. An elf woman, frozen in time and space, locked within a timeless suspension tube.
"I really don't know," he said. "All I have on my part is that the Nexus itself forced those conditions upon her contract and I'm trying to sell her away since."
"I see," I nod, not really interested in knowing the background of this elf as long as she does her job well.
'If she accepted me as her employer first.'
"Sigh... it's been a pleasure doing business with you, Bro."
BarterBro beamed, bowing so deeply his ridiculous top hat tumbled off and rolled away—only to sprout legs and run after itself.
"The pleasure, dear goddess, is entirely mine," he said, voice now laced with that familiar undercurrent of smug satisfaction only a dealmaker could carry. "Do enjoy your acquisition. And remember, should you need anything else—souls, servants, scandal-proof vaults—I'm only a contract away."
I gave a graceful nod and turned my gaze back to the elf suspended in the tube. Her body was perfect, unmarred, seemingly preserved at the very peak of youth and potential. Long blonde hair floated in slow motion around her face.
Ding!
After confirming the transfer of the elf's rights to me, I snapped my fingers. A divine recall portal shimmered into existence behind me, woven from threads of lust-colored mana and gilded with Nexus runes. The box hovered, gently lifted by my power, and began drifting toward the portal like an offering.
I gave BarterBro a last, loaded smile—a curve of the lips sharp enough to gut a fool—and turned, passing through the portal back to my holy temple.
Back home—my throne room welcomed me with the smell of sex and the howling after a mind-blowing climax.
"Home sweet home," I purred, stretching my arms over my head like a satisfied cat basking in the afterglow of divine debauchery. The heat of the temple greeted me like a lover's breath—humid, electric, thick with the scent of slick skin and incense burned on altars of writhing flesh.
Turning back I spotted the black box levitating over the marble floor, glowing brightly with Nexus runes. Approaching it I scanned the elf closely this time and in my humble horny opinion the woman was breedable.
'I can't wait to see this cute belly round.'
Since I'm the owner now, I have the authority to unfreeze the elf from her state and right after I clicked a few buttons using the system, the Nexus runes dimmed one by one with a soft fizz of retreating magic, each symbol fading like a sigh on the wind.
And there she was. Glorious.
Now freed from the stasis tube, the elf began to descend and lay limp against the cold floor. For a few minutes, nothing happened. The elf simply laid still on the floor breathing evenly, and I feared that her time in the tube messed her up somehow, but then she began to move. First, her fingers, and toes, then her arms and legs, finally, she lifted her head, blue eyes blurry but determined.
It was cute... Kinda like a baby learning how to walk... No scratch that, this elf isn't cute anymore. Her blue eyes landed on me, scanning from top to bottom, before she let out a sigh of disappointment, trying to adjust an imaginary pair of eyeglasses.
"Eh?" I blinked.
She did not just do that.
She fucking sighed at me—me!—like I was some cheap whore who didn't comb her hair! That haughty, exhausted, vaguely judgmental exhale, complete with the subtle twitch of her brow and the phantom reach for eyewear that clearly no longer existed. The sheer audacity.
'Bitch, my ass is a work of art, and the boobs you're glancing down at aren't for decoration!'
She sat up with surprising grace, muscles adjusting to gravity and freedom as though she'd done it a thousand times before. Her hair, long and golden, flowed around her as sunlight poured into form. Her skin glowed with residual Nexus energy, still hot and shivering with reawakening—but her expression?
Unimpressed. Calm. Cool.
Deadpan.
"I assume," she said in a voice smoother than a silk garrote, "that you're the one who bought me?"
Before I had the chance to reply she added.
"Impress me."
"Eh?" I blinked again, stunned by her words. "Excuse me?"
"I said impress me," she repeated with that same infuriating, measured tone, "convince me why I should work for you."
"..." I kept staring at her. The elf really had the nerve, she didn't care that she was a slave or the fact I was a goddess who could wipe her out in an instant and for that I respect her.
'Hehehe... breaking her will be fun'