Afternoon
After the daily routine of wooden horse whipping, Sophia is once again bound like a dog and thrown into her "new doghouse"—a literal kennel surrounded by three ferocious dogs. Though trained not to bite her, they treat her as one of their own. They sniff her nose, occasionally lick the plug between her legs and the tender flesh around it. Sometimes, they nip at her pierced breasts, drawn to the leaking milk from her punctured glands.
She can't escape. Unlike real dogs, she moves clumsily on elbows and knees. When she fails to dodge, they mount her rear. Despite the plug's protection, she feels… increasingly like a dog.
The dogs wag their tails happily, enjoying their new "friend." Sophia is overwhelmed with shame. Clement even brought Jane, dressed in slave attire, to witness her humiliation.
Ding Yangchun said that obedience could earn her a return to the "luxury doghouse." No… I must pull myself together… Think of someone who can save me…
"Fifi, are you an idiot?" A familiar figure appears in Sophia's despairing mind—a memory-induced hallucination. Like seeing Merlin before, seeing this dear friend brings joy, even if it's self-deception.
"You're the idiot! Your whole Markov family is! Show some respect to this countess!"
"Only an idiot jumps into holy water, calling it 'high diving,'" the tall, imposing figure roars, clearly concerned for her safety.
"But I can't die! Adventuring's fun! Join me! I revived you, remember?"
"I have my honor and pursuits, not playing house with you."
"House, my ass! It's adventure! Don't you know? Without me, you bugs would've—"
"Been frozen in time forty years ago. You've said it twenty-five times."
In her despair, Sophia smiles, tears falling. I'm such an idiot. High diving into holy water? Why am I such a foolish vampire?
"Little Soso! Respect this countess!"
"Sorry, Fifi, I don't want you in danger."
"You're only twenty-eight years older! Why act like an old man?"
"If you keep—" The handsome figure looks at her with care and affection.
"Keep what? I'm the Dominatrix clan leader! Who're you to threaten me?"
"Fine, I can't deal with a mature queen who's a giant baby inside. I'm done with you." The young male royal vampire closes his eyes, pained.
"What?! You're abandoning me?!"
"You're my sister. I'll always protect you, but we're not meant to be together. Sorry, Fifi." His figure trembles and vanishes at sonic speed.
"Soso?! Come back! Soso!!! You bastard! Jerk!!!"
A distant mountain explodes in her hallucination.
"Mmph… mmphhh…" Sophia sobs. I was so happy then. If he knew I was here, he'd save me…
I won't be this foolish again…
But he doesn't know. The only one who does is…
Isaac?
Two dogs lick her tear-streaked face. The door opens, and a soldier collapses.
A cloaked thief enters, shooing the dogs away.
"Lady Dominatrix? Lady Dominatrix?" Sophia, deafened by the kennel's restrictions, hears nothing.
The thief finds the mechanism on her dog ears. Click! Her hearing returns to human levels, and the ears are removed.
"Mmph?"
The thief cuts off her gag.
"Lady Dominatrix, huff, no time to explain. Lady Belmont and Mister Isaac are fighting outside." The thief slices the straps folding her arms and legs.
"Isaac?" Sophia's hearing fully returns, catching the growing sounds of combat—crossbows and whips, Moonshine and Meteor's End.
Isaac, Anna, and Sergei must have found formidable allies at the tavern.
The thief, highly skilled, frees Sophia of all restraints except the holy collar, handcuffs, ankle cuffs, and plugs, which he can't remove.
"Wait, that soldier—I need his blood to suppress the collar's power."
"With Sergei, we're only six. No time. Escape first, then you can drain me to kill Clement."
"You have a grudge against Clement too?" Sophia, stiff from prolonged restraint, moves slowly.
"He used my sister's heart for alchemy," the thief says, his masked mouth hiding all but his murderous eyes.
"Alright, we escape. Saving Little Zack comes first." Sophia follows the thief out.
At the door, Clement appears, bodies of soldiers strewn about. The crossbow and whip sounds shift to another direction.
"Go find Isaac! I'll handle Clement!" the thief shouts, charging.
"Be careful!" Sophia yells, running toward the sounds.
With only human hearing, she's far more comfortable than with the dog ears. Suddenly, Ding Yangchun blocks her path. She knows she can't outfight him but has a plan.
Sophia swings a punch. Ding Yangchun dodges, catching her follow-up left strike.
"Forgot you're no match for me, Lady Dominatrix?" he smirks.
"That was before." She grins coldly, unleashing an ultrasonic blast from her mouth.
Though weakened by the collar, it bloodies Ding Yangchun's face, knocking him out.
Sophia rushes to crush his throat but a rope snares her legs, toppling her forward.
"What's this?"
"Magic rope, Domi. We both have hidden weapons, don't we?"
Damn, he had a trick up his sleeve. Careless!
"Close call. I hid the rope in stealth mode on the floor. Good thing you didn't free your ears, or you'd have noticed."
Sophia fumes at her oversight. As a royal vampire, she can see infrared. Ding Yangchun, experienced only with high vampires, didn't know this. She saw the rope's infrared spectrum but ignored it, focused on finding Isaac.
"Any more secrets, Domi?" Ding Yangchun, reading her, taunts as another magic rope flies.
"Mmph!" An ultrasonic blast deflects it. On the ground, she aims another at him.
But deflecting the rope cost time. Ding Yangchun mounts her back, whipping her rear.
Slap! Her unbound hands are useless with him atop her.
"Ding wins again?" Clement and the thief approach.
"You're not Isaac's friend?" Sophia realizes she's been tricked.
The thief holds a long capture fork—a pole with a Y-shaped end, its inner prongs bending inward to lock a neck, spiked to prevent struggling.
"The fighting sounds were fake too," Sophia says, despairing.
"Smart dog, Domi," Ding Yangchun says, leaning his bloodied face close. "You hurt me. What now?"
"I… I… I won't do it again… please…" Sophia's pupils shrink, heart racing.
"What did Domi tell you?" Ding Yangchun asks the thief.
"She said draining blood could suppress the collar."
"That's bad. Intel says Dominatrixes are the world's strongest psychics," Clement says calmly, likely informed by another royal vampire.
"Then we pull Domi's fangs."
"What?" Sophia's eyes mix fear, despair, and a wish for death.
Fangs are a vampire's symbol, bared in combat, intimidation, or to assert identity. Like human canines, they're rooted in the gum but longer, retractable via a movable cheekbone, hiding them to mimic human teeth.
Fangs are vital for feeding and crafting elixirs; some clan abilities require them. Regrowing fangs is slow—slower than regenerating a head. They're second only to the heart in importance, embodying identity, dignity, and power. Losing them equates to being livestock. Pulling fangs and sealing gums with silver, preventing regrowth, is a horrific "living punishment," second only to soul torment, death, or being turned into a mindless ghoul.
Her trust in the thief cost her again.
"Please, don't! I'll do anything!" Sophia trembles, tears streaming.
"Be a good Domi. Call yourself Domi and me Master, got it?"
"M-Master… please don't pull… don't pull Domi's teeth… Master, I'll… Domi will do anything…" Sobbing, she surrenders all dignity to preserve her identity.
"Then know this: more drills like this—letting you out, catching you again—will happen. You'll be punished today, regardless. In future drills, swear eternal loyalty to your Master, and I won't pull your fangs."
"I… Domi understands… please don't pull my fangs… Domi won't escape… Domi swears… loyalty to Master… don't pull Domi's fangs… punish me however you want, Master…" she pleads.
"Give me an elixir of immortality. You need fangs for that, right?" Clement interjects, seizing the chance to break her.
"Anything but that… Domi will do anything…" Sophia clings to a shred of reason, her defenses against Ding Yangchun shattered, but resisting Clement. Yet, fear makes her sob uncontrollably.
"Domi, obey Master Clement. I only said I won't pull your fangs. I can't control him," Ding Yangchun says, his bloodied face close.
"Guess we pull them."
"No, please, Master, beg him for me—Arghhh!" Clement flicks his fingers, magically elongating and yanking out her ten-centimeter fangs.
Blood sprays like acid, corroding everything it touches.
"Mmph—waaahhh!" Not gagged whimpers but wails of anguish. Sophia's cries, the most heart-wrenching yet, pierce all present with her psychic despair, even Ding Yangchun.
"Gag her," Clement orders, unnerved by her soul's scream. Ding Yangchun stuffs a two-month-unwashed sock into her acid-bleeding mouth, specially made to resist corrosion.
"Mmph—mmphhh!" She sobs, no longer the royal Dominatrix, no longer Isaac's proud countess.
"Fangs grow back, right?" Ding Yangchun, shaken by her despair, asks.
Clement, still reeling, waves a hand. A silver object melts, and molten silver flows into Sophia's mouth, sealing her fangless gums.
The scalding silver burns her lips, but she ignores it, crying relentlessly.
The silver forms teeth, stopping the bleeding. She can never regrow her fangs.
This is my foolish price. I'm a failed vampire, unworthy even as an eternal slave.
Ding Yangchun sees her untrainable state, devoid of will to live or die. He waits for her recovery.
After an hour of sobbing, she emerges from her soul's devastation.
"Domi, let this be a lesson. No escaping. Any attempt brings this punishment," Ding Yangchun says, noting her recovery. The punishment, unintendedly severe, outdid his own.
"Mmph… mmphhh." Her lifeless eyes nod as she's rebound and kneels.
"Right, Master Clement, bring out your pet."
Clement snaps, and a one-way glass wall vanishes. Jane, in a corset, single glove, and slave boots, appears—she watched the ordeal.
Jane, trembling, tears streaming, empathizes with Sophia's death-wish despair.
"Jane, time to relieve yourself with Domi."
Jane's vacant eyes meet Sophia's as they're forced to kneel, bedpans behind them. Shame and chastity forgotten, they feel fleeting relief as plugs are removed.
Ding Yangchun grabs a branding iron. Sophia, lifeless, doesn't react. He kicks her down, saying, "Domi, don't heal this, or I'll rebrand you and sprinkle silver powder. Hear me?"
"Mmph." Sophia only agrees now.
The iron reads: "Bitch Domi, Ding Yangchun's Pet."
He sears it into her tender rear. Tears fall, but she's silent, her reason gone, a mere obedient machine.
Clement holds another iron: "Flesh Slave Jane, Clement's Mare."
Jane, still sentient, eyes it in horror. "Mmph, mmphhh!" But she's powerless as Clement brands her rear…
------------------------------------------------------------
Four Days Later, Outside Paris's Magic Academy
The sky is overcast, lightless, as if Paris weeps for Sophia.
"Anna, we've watched for four days. No one in Paris's taverns dares face Clement," Isaac says, lying beside Anna on the rooftop as she peers through her monocular.
Clement hasn't left the dungeon, and Jane's room remains dark.
Sergei, maintaining the invisibility spell, is losing hope.
"Damn it, stop yapping!" Anna, frustrated and out of ideas, snaps.
"We must save Sophia," Isaac urges.
"Shut up, you useless fool! You're no help, pining for your princess. Go save her with your invincible Vandein sword! Why yell at me? You've got your Vivian every night—still want your princess? Am I just your beck-and-call maid?" Anna, fruitless after four days, explodes. Clement's cunning surpasses even the scheming Estruch clan.
"Ahem, Lady Belmont," a hooded gray cloak appears behind them.
"Who are you? How'd you get here?" Anna jumps, drawing Sarah's Vengeance.
"You saw through my invisibility?" Sergei gasps.
"You're St—" Isaac starts, but the gray cloak gestures for silence, speaking in a low voice. "You've been here four days."
"How do you know?" Anna's shocked.
"If I know, Clement's known longer."
"What?"
"His surveillance spells reach two kilometers. Think he can't hear here?"
Isaac understands why the gray cloak whispers and stopped his name.
"Listen, before his clairvoyance catches me, I must go. No one in this city can face Clement alone. You need an organization's strength."
"What do you mean?"
"Lady Belmont, you're Old Faith, right?"
"Yes?"
"Understand, vampire hunter. Also, you've likely got Clement's spy among you."
Anna and Isaac glance at Sergei.
"Why look at me? Ura!"
The gray cloak moves to the roof's edge. "We want to be white knights, but sometimes, black knight tactics win."
He jumps off.
"Run!" Anna pulls them away.
---------------------------------------------------
Magic Academy's Dungeon
A giant transparent magical eye glows on Clement's forehead.
He sees Anna, Isaac, and Sergei fleeing but not the voice's owner.
"Who dared challenge me in this city?"
-----------------------------------------------------
Simultaneously, Another Dungeon Cell
Two female forest intellect spiders, trained by Ding Yangchun to break vampires, sit on a large web.
At its center, Sophia is cocooned in spider silk, only her eyes exposed.
The fang removal broke her completely. For four days, she's been lifeless, her soul despairing. No whipping or threats—even of being made a Zhendan human swine—elicit a response.
Training her is pointless, Ding Yangchun thinks. Even the spiders, feared by vampires, crawl over her, teasing sensitive spots, and she remains dead inside.
But from Clement's spy, he acquired something.
"Domi, Domi." He stands before the web.
Her vacant eyes turn to him.
"Look." He holds red hair—Belmont's.
Fear, despair, and weakness flood Sophia's face.
Ding Yangchun smirks. It worked.
He tried freeing her to escape and be recaptured, reinforcing submission, even planning to make her a human swine. But she lacked the will to flee.
The red hair rekindles her hope—and despair.
"Mmph? Mmphhh?"
"You're back, Domi?"
"Mmph?" She sees herself as just a cocoon…
Fine, I'm a useless vampire—no, not even that without fangs. A useless dog named Domi, dragging Isaac and Anna down.
I'll call you Master. I'll make Clement's elixir. Punish me, I'm nothing.
Ding Yangchun cuts her from the web.
Master, I submit. I'll do anything.
Her restored mind forgets her mouth is webbed, only her eyes free.
Her words become: "Mmphhh, mmphhh."
She realizes her mistake—Master forbids random sounds.
"Domi, so disobedient already?"
"Mmph?" Fear fills her eyes. She kneels, kowtowing to Ding Yangchun in a Zhendan gesture of submission. Her 180 cm frame dwarfs his 155 cm, like a cocooned giant bowing to a goblin.
"You know the three kneels and nine kowtows? Still punishment."
She panics. I've submitted, why—
He orders the spiders to seal her eyes, making her a white worm.
Ding Yangchun princess-carries the massive cocoon, patting her rear.
His head nears her mercury- and web-weakened ears. "Heard of Rosenlan's iron maiden?"
"Mmph… mmphhh? Mmph!"
"Naughty Domi."
He carries her to a torture chamber with a human-shaped iron statue—an iron maiden.
Spikes pierce her, fluids gushing but trapped by the cocoon. She weeps, I've submitted, made you Master, why this torture? Because I'm a foolish vampire?
An hour later, he pulls her out, more despairing.
He feels her training is complete.
"Domi, kiss me."
The worm's head moves, kissing his cheek with what should be her mouth.
"Will you help Master Clement make the elixir?"
The worm nods despairingly.
Ding Yangchun grins. Success!
Clement enters, his face murderous.
"Master Clement—"
Clement waves him silent.
Three strangers stand behind him—not dungeon regulars.
Clement, ashen-faced, says, "Ding Yangchun, give the vampire to these men."
"What? My Dom—" Clement silences him.
In the cocoon, Sophia hears only her Master, fearing another trick like the thief's. She won't fall for it again, won't leave Master, won't face more punishment. She shakes violently in his arms, hoping compliance reduces her penalty, perhaps earning the "luxury doghouse."
But Clement's order stands. Ding Yangchun reluctantly hands the cocooned Countess Dominatrix to a tall, orange-haired paladin.
The paladin, about 190 cm, strikingly handsome, is Olivier de Guigne IV, Goulens' chief paladin, descendant of the founding twelve paladins. He carries the legendary sword Hrothgar, 170 cm long. Behind him are two clerics.Someone told the Church we're researching vampires—a forbidden act?
Clement publicly claimed he'd kill a vampire to deter others, never admitting research. Only academy insiders knew.
But his surveillance spells cover the academy. Who dared report him?
Olivier takes Sophia's cocoon. Fearing punishment, she struggles to return to her Master.
As a gentleman, Olivier believes even vampires deserve dignity before judgment. His 190 cm height matches her 180 cm frame, unlike Ding Yangchun's shortness.
He cuts the silk from her face, unprepared for blood, urine, and fluids bursting out, staining his ornate armor."This isn't interrogation—it's depraved torture!" Olivier rages at the mages' actions.
"This isn't interrogation—it's depraved torture!" Olivier rages at the mages' actions.
Closing his eyes, he prays. Holy light fills the dungeon, golden holy water washing Sophia's cocoon and his armor clean. As a "foul" vampire, she writhes in pain from the light.
"No matter who you are, you're under my protection, lady," Olivier says, cutting her mouth's silk.
"No, Master, Domi didn't mean to leave! Don't punish Domi!" Sophia, thinking it's a trick, panics, pleasing Ding Yangchun—she's truly broken.
"Lady, don't fear. I'm Olivier, chief paladin. It's over. You'll face fair judgment to decide your fate," he says.
Was that holy light? Its divine source, granted only to the devout, suggests this isn't a trick. Olivier's handsome presence helps her reason return slightly.
She knows the de Guigne family for their fairness. Unless the light was faked—Clement could do that?
"No, Domi is Master's slave dog…" She lacks courage to believe it's real, fully broken.
"I don't know what happened, but you're not yourself. Until judgment, I'll protect you, on my knight's honor." He cuts her cocoon fully.
"Get her something to cover with." He spots her Bloodwing on the wall, retrieving it.
"That's our treasure," Clement protests.
"Is it? A Silandrian cloak? You hoard vampire artifacts?" Olivier's authoritative voice retorts.
"It's Domi's cloak…" Sophia, slipping, refers to herself as a slave, then panics, looking at Ding Yangchun.
"Master, don't punish Domi, I was wrong, I was wrong! Will Master use Domi's body as compensation? Mas—"
"Enough!" A holy light storm swirls around Olivier, his orange hair flowing, eyes glowing divinely. Golden gusts blast everything around.
"You don't know that no one, even a vampire, can be convicted or punished without trial?"
His majestic roar, godlike, commands awe. "I don't care what dark deeds happened here. I'm taking this lady to the Church's dungeon. Until her trial, no one touches her!" The holy storm stuns all but Clement.
"Hand over all vampire restraint devices," Olivier commands, not requests.
He drapes Bloodwing over her naked, unrestrained body, save for the collar, cuffs, and plugs. It wraps her protectively.
For the first time in days, Sophia feels unburdened.
She stays silent. If it's a trick, her lack of cooperation might lessen punishment. If real, the Church has both corrupt and devout members. She prefers the latter.
If she reaches the Church's dungeon…
She'll be serious, never foolish again.
Olivier carries her out, clerics collecting her restraints.
He notices the brand on her rear, sprinkled with silver and mercury by Ding Yangchun, unhealable without magic. Disgusted, he sees the vampire as cleaner than the dungeon's mages.
How much filth hides in this city? His knightly heart burns.
-------------------------------------------------------
Paris, Overcast
The sky, dark as night, mourns. A knight carries a lady from the academy.
In the shadows, a red-haired woman watches through a monocular.
"It actually worked," Anna sighs in relief.
"Will the Church burn Sophia, like in witch hunter tales?" Isaac asks.
"You idiot, even we hunters need trials before burning. We're not Hiranican tyrants or Ettan sultans," Anna retorts. "The Church has good and bad, devout and not."
"Like our Rosian Orthodoxy, ura!" Sergei adds.
The gray knight warned of a spy. Anna and Isaac haven't told Sergei where they went.
Through her witch hunter contacts, Anna informed the Paris Church of the academy's forbidden vampire experiments. Sergei doesn't know what she's watching.
They don't know Clement's goal, but researching dark creatures is banned, as Anna, a hunter, knows.
She used Church ties for this borrowed-knife strategy. Even if Clement's surveillance and clairvoyance know, Chanel's protection keeps her safe.
"I'm worried…" Isaac heard bad Church rumors.
"The Church claims to represent God, but it's just a claim. Some act piously for power or wealth," Anna admits.
"So Sophia—"
"But the Church has rules. Alongside villains, there are good, upright people from the books."
"Don't you get it? Even Silandria has a Church branch, and vampires aren't banned. If it was all bad, it'd be gone."
"But you said there are bad people—"
"Only care about the bad? Am I bad?" Anna, a Church-affiliated hunter, glares. "They have trials. Maybe not always fair—centuries later, we'll find wrongs. But it's better than Clement's tyranny in the academy."
She whispers, "That gray knight isn't an idiot like you. He's the 'nobody' from Masoch's estate with Charles, right?"
Isaac recalls the weathered "nobody," burdened by duty.
Duty?
Lady Lynn's words echo: "She'll grow if you help her."
In the shadows, a gray cloak passes. "Olivier, ever the white knight."
"The world has white knights. I'm the blade in the dark, guarding my lady."
--------------------------------------------------
Back in the Dungeon
Jane, bound like Sophia's former dog form, is thrown into Ding Yangchun's chamber. Unlike Sophia, her elbows and knees have padded shoe-like protectors for comfort.
From her mouth down, she's sealed in a latex suit, likely Clement's creation, with healing and physical resistance properties, except at her branded spot and three plugged orifices.
Her brand, "Clement's Mare," is crossed out in red, replaced with "Magic Academy's Public Pet."
Clement stands on the steps, coldly saying, "Lady Jane, your allies and an unknown voice orchestrated this. My immortality plan nearly succeeded."
"You'll replace her as Ding's pet."