Soft Sacrifice

Anoteros settled into a comfortable seat. It looked as though he had entered an immense theatre, but the seats were arranged all around the stage, which sat right down the middle of the room.

It seemed like he was in a VIP lodge or something similar. There were only a handful of other seats, and none of them was occupied on account that Hiliap had decided to sit on his lap… It truly seemed like his reputation as a lustful man preceded him. Women weren’t even worried about pulling this sort of stunt on him.

For most nobles, even if they would like to try, they would hesitate and probe beforehand, but when it came to him, they charged head-on… Which was the correct way to do it. Anoteros wasn’t one to refuse a pretty lady–Certainly not with his absurd libido.

He just needed to be careful that he didn’t end up doing it with an assassin one of these days. It was unlikely nowadays, especially within one of the vassal sects, but in the future? Some would definitely want to exploit his hunger for amorous activities with nearly everything that moved, and sometimes with things that didn’t even do that much… 

In any case, the ritual soon began as what Edrick presumed to be the sacrifice was brought onto the stage and tied to the altar with chains. All four limbs restrained, chest and stomach pressed against the cold stone of the altar.

The sacrifice was a woman of youthful composition. Her bare body was covered in body paint, leaving very little exposed skin under the layers of red, pink, white, and black.

The scion didn’t know what exactly the markings meant, but as far as he was aware, they typically held some importance, as he had heard that they weren’t always placed on all sacrifices. Only certain rituals required the sacrifice or sacrifices to be ‘decorated’ in such a manner.

Once she was bound, a large group of male disciples stepped onto the stage, forming a circular waiting line around the altar. They were all dressed similarly, with only minor differences highlighting whether they were outer, inner, core, or even true disciples.

All wore only a refined loincloth and nothing else, further evidenced by the fact that they grabbed their loincloths, pulling them off and revealing the singular weapon hidden underneath the piece of cloth. All of it was the same weapon, Asmodeus’s favourite. They were of different proportions depending on the disciples, but all of them were in possession of a fairly good weapon–Above average for all.

The sacrifice began panicking more, begging for mercy, but the ritual had already begun... The disciple at the front of the line stepped forward–And just like all of the others, he was polishing his blunt blade using one hand.

He approached the sacrifice from behind, smacking the leftmost soft bit of flesh without mercy, making her wince in pain before stabbing his sword into the opening that was already present.

He showed no pity, attacking violently, bruising as deep as his weapon could go as his free hands strongly squeezed and struck her flesh. The sacrifice bled, causing the markings on both her body and that of the disciples to light up for a moment.

This was apparently the busy disciple’s cue. His weapon spewed something other than blood, and he stepped back, casually walking off the stage as the one who had been waiting behind quickly got into position, repeating the exact same actions.

The brutal spectacle would be best described as a Swapfest–Which was basically a version of a Lagneiefest where the participants wait for their turn with the centerpiece. Though Edrick supposed that it would be best described as a Viotfest instead, since the sacrifice was clearly being Viotted by each and every participant.

Her pain and terror were evident as she was made to endure the blows of their weapons one after another. All of them used the same entry point to deal damage, doing so until the markings lit up. Then, they would quickly finish and leave the spot to another.

“What is this ritual about, exactly?”

Anoteros asked as he pulled Hiliap closer by her waist, the elder who looked nothing like her title blushing slightly as she put her hands up against the noble’s chest.

“It is one of our ‘Shattering Rituals’. The sacrifices of such rituals are supposed to survive the ordeal, and they must also be pure prior to the start of it… Basically, they must be turned obedient through pain and suffering. If they endure, all is fine. They’ll just go through another Shattering Ritual. It is actually better when they resist. Prince Asmodeus loves to see the tough nuts crack”

“I see… And how are the participating disciples chosen?”

“It is based mostly on performance. We have tests conducted at the end of every week, and disciples can only participate if they are above a certain threshold. Of course, true disciples are able to get into the rituals without problem even if they aren’t selected”

“Being a true disciple doesn’t always mean one is strong. It can also mean that one has a lot of potential. So even if they were weak at first, they get special permissions. It is important since ritual participants get a larger and purer dose of Prince Asmodeus’s devilish energy”

Anoteros nodded.

The spectacle was fairly nice, but it was quite monotonous since they just waited for their turn and did the exact same thing every single time. Some disciples were more violent, while some clearly struggled with not finishing before the marks lit up, but that was it.

This was probably just a taste of things. One of the simplest, less brutal rituals.

…One interesting thing was that the audience seats were actually quite well-filled, and almost all of the audience was taking care of their own weapons while watching, certainly something that pleased Asmodeus as well.

Hiliap noticed that Edrick scanned through the audience and leaned close to his ear:

“May I interest you in a little something to spice things up, Young Master?”

“Go ahead, Miss Hiliap”

She repositioned herself on his lap, soon beginning to grind against his nether region, her hands undoing the buttons of his shirt as she slithered beneath it, her warm and soft palms rubbing against his muscular body.

“Oh my… You truly are impressively well-built, Young Master~ What a virile physique…”

She began kissing his neck. 

The scion merely sat back and enjoyed her attention, keeping his arms resting on the armrests of his seat. The elder’s generous bust pressed against his chest, and it only took a little while until she moved down and began meddling with his belt.

“Let’s see what this bump down there is all about~”