Chapter Eighteen

The sound of an approaching Tyrannosaur reached into the fort and when the portcullis was hoisted it alerted Lady Uzume that she was about to receive a visitor. She could ignore them if she so wished, but knew that the importance of the message no doubt merited intruding on her privacy.

A knock came upon the door so Uzume donned a flowing leather kimono and slipped on her veil. She straightened it to make sure it hid her features and opened the hefty portal.

The two officers bowed until they were almost prostrate on the drawbridge. One was covered in dust and some flecks of red, and the other was her second in command.

‘I humbly beg forgiveness for disturbing you, Lady Uzume. But I bring grave news from our outriders,’ said Masuda.

‘Rise and you may speak,’ she ordered, knowing full well what he was going to tell her because she had in fact orchestrated it.

The officers clambered back to their feet and kept their gaze down. Masuda stepped aside as though to distance himself from the rider who shuddered with the shame of what he was going to have to say.

‘Our outriders went to inform the search party of your orders and found that they had been attacked. We explored the area and discovered that an army has been raised in the Provinces. This force surrounded our troops as they continued to search for our quarry. We found no survivors and the army is continuing to muster greater numbers as more settlements send militia and troops to bolster it.’

‘Explain this!’ snarled Uzume and jabbed a finger at the bloodstains.

‘We came under attack from their advance riders and then snipers forced us to retreat from battle before the Wani could reach our position.’

‘Disgrace!’ she snarled and slapped him across the face. The fierce blow jerked his head aside and the warrior collapsed at her feet. He remained on the floor, quivering with overwhelming sorrow as he readied to accept his fate. Masuda drew his sidearm and shot him without compunction. He then kicked the chastised soldier from the drawbridge and there was a snap of motion as his Tyrannosaur mount snatched the cadaver from the air like a titbit and swallowed it whole.

A brief silence fell as the gunshot continued to echo in the foothills.

‘So, they have the shipment,’ she sighed irritably.

‘They do not, Lady Uzume,’ said Masuda.

‘Mitama defeated by backward peasants! What is happening here, Masuda? Modern weapons may have diminished your shame. The fact that the shipment is not only lost, but also did not factor in this humiliation heightens it beyond tolerance,’ she growled fiercely.

The elite warrior trembled in terror at the sound of her outrage. His forces had angered a deity and he appeared almost ready to faint. Only years of absolute fealty and dedication kept him conscious.

‘I will end my life imm-’ he began with conviction.

‘Wrong!’ snapped Uzume ‘You have brought a terrible shame upon us, Masuda. Your blood will not be spilt by your own hand. No, it will be spilled making the barbarians pay in their own. Do my words become clear to you!’

‘Yes, Lady Uzume. I conquer!’ he bellowed.

‘Then do so,’ she said with cool gravity.

Masuda turned and ran back to vault into the saddle. Without fastening his harness, he drew the monster around and started roaring orders. Lady Uzume took little pleasure in sending him to his death. Masuda was good leader and was well respected by his troops. He had proven himself in several campaigns and whispers even had him heading towards a taste of Lingzhi. He had devoted every aspect of his life to the furthering of the Empire’s goals and had done so to exemplary degrees. The reward of being able to partake of a dose of the immortality potion would either allow him to expend another life in this cause, or spend it on self-indulgent retirement with all the fruits of his accomplishments.

Nevertheless, his death at the hands of the enemy would further fan rancour in the Empire and excuse her own decision to retreat.

Uzume watched Masuda vanish into a cloud of dust when his mount galloped away, then span on her heels and strode back inside. She closed the door and heard the sound of the defences being re-established while she slid free of her concealing garb.

After a moment of further contemplation she decided that she needed to clear her head, so she decided to go and torment Xiao.

Uzume grabbed a small stool and walked upstairs. She dropped it before Xiao’s sorrowful features and settled upon it. Crossing her legs, she rested her hands on her knees in a demure pose.

‘So, where were we? Ah yes, we were finding out all about you.’

Uzume hoisted a leg and offered the sole of her boot to the captive girl. She looked at it with confusion, her ignorance of even the most commonplace acts of submission being total. Uzume smiled at the thought of correcting that failing, because failing it was. Slaves had to be ready to endure anything and this wild creature was no exception.

‘Lick,’ she ordered and gave a small lewd shudder when she saw the appalled expression on the girl’s face. She was so virginal that Uzume just wanted to ravish her right away, but she kept her desires in check. She wanted to draw this out. Frustrating herself was helping pass the time.

A trembling tongue emerged and stretched out to touch her sole. Uzume laughed when the girl recoiled at the tang of trail dust. She then shed this mirth and fixed the captive with a stark glare.

‘I told you to lick! Now do it, you stupid slut, before I cane you!’

The gravity in the words made the girl tremble and she started to take hesitant laps of the footwear. There was something so fragile about this prisoner, and yet there was an inner strength that made Uzume yearn to keep her bound, contained, and in pain. When Xiao was suffering and screaming, she revealed that she was not as flimsy as she seemed compared to when she was merely sobbing and cringing in the shadow of the lash.

The girl was also obviously inexperienced with regard to sex, and even intimacy was likely unknown to her, so Uzume was taking great delight in her crass words and insinuations. This gave her another debauched idea.

‘Suck the heel,’ she ordered, and lifted her foot higher.

With tentative motions the prisoner craned her head forward and puckered her lips to touch the bottom of the stiletto. Uzume slid her foot forward so that the heel entered the girl’s mouth and then decided to gouge at her sense of propriety.

‘Suck it like you’d suck cock,’ she uttered lecherously. ‘I want to see how that harlot’s mouth devours men.’

Uzume’s hands clenched to her thighboots as she observed the repelled wince on the girl’s face. It was as though she had been slapped, and Uzume trembled a little with relish to see such a reaction. The kami-tsu-ko were already trained and even if they were still resentful of their lot, they had been introduced most effectively to what the Empire wished of them. Not so with Xiao.

‘Suck it or I’ll fuck you with it!’ snarled Uzume and her head lolled back as she heard a terrified squeak and felt the girl clamp lips to her heel and start to fawn upon it. Even the most trivial threat made her quake, especially when it involved anything relating to intercourse.

‘Yes, that’s more like it,’ she purred while staring up at the ceiling.

She let the girl attend the item for a few minutes and then chose to continue with her interrogation. Uzume dropped her foot back to the ground and quickly grabbed a bag of pegs.

‘So, your name is Xiao Lin?’

‘Yes, Goddess,’ was the meek reply.

‘How old are you, Xiao,’ she asked with mock kindness, and started to reach into the bag for her first implement.

‘E...eighteen, Goddess.’

‘A tender young thing then.’

Uzume removed a peg and clicked it threateningly before the girl’s eyes. Her lips tightened and she mewed from seeing the item and obviously guessing what Uzume intended to do with it.

‘Ever been fucked?’ she said with as much crude venom as she could. As predicted the girl flinched from the question and Uzume rewarded her by promptly clipping a peg to her earlobe. The girl gave a sobbing squawk and shuddered. She threw her head from side to side and her fingers strained forward to try and reach the item, but there was nothing she could do.

‘I asked you a question, Xiao.’

‘No! No, I haven’t...oh...please...ow...this hurts! Take it off, Goddess. Please, Goddess,’ she whimpered.

‘Of course it does, and that’s why you’re wearing it,’ said Uzume while removing another peg in readiness. ‘Now, are you sure? I think you may be lying.’

Uzume started to trace the tip of the peg around her captive’s features. The girl kept her eyes locked to the implement to keep track of where it was and perhaps prepare for its application.

‘Is that it? Are you lying to me? Lying to your Goddess?’

‘I swear, Goddess. I wouldn’t lie to you. I’ve never been with anyone.’

Xiao’s face crumpled into a tight grimace when her other earlobe was enveloped within the wooden jaws. Uzume then grabbed another peg and started to tickle the length of the girl’s ears with it.

‘Are you sure? Not a man. Not a woman. No one? Are you absolutely sure?’

‘YES! Yes! Goddess, I swear I’m telling you the truth!’

The addition of the peg to her upper ear made Xiao croak and again fight her bonds to try and access the cruel instrument and remove it. Cocking her head aside, her face reddened with strain but her fingers could not even graze the contraption. Her efforts froze when another peg started to trace the opposite edge.

‘What about other activities?’ said Uzume, being deliberately opaque.

‘I...I don’t know...wait!...No!...Please!’ she cried as the peg opened and moved into position. Uzume grabbed the girl’s forehead and pushed back to pin her into position and let the peg remain open and poised to clamp down on her flesh.

‘Tell me the truth, Xiao, or I’ll add this one as well.’

‘I have no idea what you mean! Kissing? Is that it, Goddess? I’ve never even kissed a boy!’ she cried.

‘What about a girl,’ asked Uzume.

‘Only you, Goddess!’

Uzume let go and the jaws clamped down onto the upper reaches of Xiao’s ear. The captive gave another despairing croak and her head sagged in resignation.

‘You think me a girl? A woman? A mere mortal meat sack?’ she offered gravely.

Xiao’s features jumped back up and utmost imploring ruled her countenance.

‘Oh no, Goddess! Of course not. You...you’re Kami...and...I...oh no!...please, not another one, Goddess, I’m sorry, I...’

Uzume ran the next peg along her eyebrows as she stared up at it with tears welling in her eyes.

‘I am an immortal, Xiao,’ she stated forcefully. Uzume used her other hand and pinched the skin, making it swell so she could apply the peg to that ridge. Xiao gave a long despairing moan as she alternatively frowned and hoisted her brow to try and slither free of the mordant implement.

‘I am Kami,’ she added, and then adorned the middle of the other eyebrow. ‘The embodiment of thought and deed and substance.’

Another peg was established on either side of the pair and this left Xiao quivering with distress as six crushing pincers ruled her eyebrows.

‘I am Uzume - the Dread Female.’

The words culminated in a peg that slid a jaw into each nostril and then snatched a vicious hold on her septum. Xiao gave a decent cry of misery and started to stretch her tongue up, but all she could do was knock the rear of the implement around and have it tug and draw at her nose.

‘So I ask you again. Have ever kissed anyone? Male or female?’

‘N...no, Goddess,’ she said over clenched teeth.

‘Better. What about masturbation?’

The shocked gasp that slipped her lips was an exhilarating sound to Uzume and she decided to start adding pegs there next. The pain she was in and the threat of a constant flow of additional doses made Xiao quicker with her response.

‘I don’t really. I’m always watched so I can’t. Not in front of my brothers.’

Uzume was momentarily thrown by the words and as she processed the statement, she added the peg to the middle of the prisoner’s lower lip. Xiao quaked and choked back her cries.

Female forms were in abundance in the Empire, but then so too was metal. The lands beyond the great wall were starved of these commodities that she generally took for granted. It was a difficult concept to grasp, that this gorgeous young creature was kept suppressed and hidden, like a fine vase in a display cabinet, one that remained behind glass, appreciating in value until its owner decided to sell it and make their fortune.

It was odd to think that although she was kept guarded at all times, defended from the desires of others, but defended from her own as well. A total lack of privacy was common for Imperial concubines, but that was because they were always being made use of. Although Xiao was not permitted time alone, she was utterly neglected. It riled Uzume, and for a moment she felt a hint of pity for the girl, but then the knowledge of what she would do to her as her own private plaything soothed this fury.

‘What do you dream of when you pleasure yourself?’ asked Uzume and to add weight to this question she traced another peg up and down Xiao’s tear sodden cheek.

‘Nothing really, I...just...’

Uzume pinched her cheek to gather a target and then clipped the peg to the generous measure of skin. Xiao cried out and the parting of her jaws made the flesh struggle to slip the jaws, but the tightly sprung teeth refused to budge and only made the area throb even more potently.

‘Tell me what you fantasise about!’ she ordered testily.

‘I don’t, Goddess! I...I just like the way it feels. I mean, I...no!...’

Her other cheek was similarly adorned and Xiao sobbed and trembled while trying to formulate a response that would not result in another peg. In preparation, Uzume started to caress her upper lip with another item.

‘Tell me.’

‘I want to get away, Goddess. I want to have adventures like everyone else. I don’t want to be a prisoner anymore. I want to do what I want. Everyone just wants me as a trophy and to give them heirs. No one cares what I think or want!’ she cried.

Uzume applied the peg anyway and watched the girl break down and give melancholic sobs.

While watching the funereal response of her prisoner, Uzume dwelt on what had been revelled. The girl had no fantasies. Her masturbation was just to feel the sensation, like eating something sweet or indulging a capricious notion. Sexual fantasy was pointless because her fate was sealed and she would be little more than a breeding partner who saw her as such and valued her only because she was valuable. It was something that annoyed Uzume about the rest of Pangaea. In the Empire, although slaves were treated roughly, sometimes cruelly, they were still valued. Concubines in the Empire were pleasured and abused so that their owners could gain satisfaction from the impunity with which they used them and from gaining the responses they desired to see. Binding a slave, tormenting them, ravishing them, it was all about indulgence. Even when they were deserted in encasement or pained isolation, the thought of their distress could bring joy at any moment to the person responsible, they could indulge the succulent thought of their plaything struggling against their imprisonment and praying for release. Xiao’s eventual owner would not indulge because she was too precious. She would be a bauble, one to give him status and material in the form of offspring.

All Xiao wanted was freedom, and under Uzume’s ownership she would have it. Uzume would use her freely, and through this, Xiao would finally have dreams. She would dream of being set free of her bonds, of being allowed to climax, of lapping at her owner’s sex, breasts, or heels, and the joy she would take from having these dreams fulfilled would be immense. A single kiss from Uzume’s lips or her whip could make all Xiao’s hopes come true. It would take time, but Uzume had plenty.

Chapter Nineteen

With her air rapidly diminishing, Candy made for an air pocket. The closest bathysphere appeared empty and she could not see any of the vicious mermaids in the vicinity. It was a lonely outpost and there were some tall coral spires blocking easy view of the location.

Candy swam up and refilled her tanks before she simply sank back down amidst the rocks. Her body was exhausted and the vast water swollen dildo in her rear was making her sphincter pound with an anguish she could not reduce. She tried to flex and squeeze it out, or to curl up her legs and find some way to slip the vile toy from her body but no matter what she did, a subsequent move just made her rubber sheath draw inward and pull the ghastly phallus back into her.

Candy spent some time alone. She wanted to make sure that the other water concubines had given up on finding her so she could migrate towards the main palace and hopefully gain someone’s eye. Her master had to want to reclaim her at some point, and so if she were closer to the main palace she could more easily be recovered.

She had endured her fill of being a fish. She wanted to be out of the water and back on territory she was familiar with. Besides, the thought of Hachiman’s gratitude for exposing the Water Wani made her shiver with lewd anticipation.

Once she was sure that she had stayed away long enough, Candy refilled her gills and started to swim carefully towards the strongest aura of light in the distance. She skulked amidst the coral and crept onwards, always carefully scanning the waters above her for sign that she had been spotted. The tube and inflator were a dead give away, and she had to be cautious lest this means to torment her be noticed and then employed.

The water around her seemed to shiver and a sudden roar filled her ears. Candy screamed against her gills and thrashed her tail but it was already too late. A section of the ocean floor had suddenly snapped open and the water above it was plummeting in. At first she feared an underwater earthquake, but at the last moment she saw that the opening was perfectly circular.

Candy plunged down towards the dark abyss and vanished into the hole. As though falling down a well, she looked up and watched the realm above shrink until she was drawn around a bend in the subterranean chute.

The waters rushed around her, carrying her to some unknown location. Lost in the inky void, she relaxed and refused to fight the impossibly powerful current. There was a flash of light that pained her eyes and made her screw them shut and then a moment of free fall before she struck water again.

Squinting, Candy looked around and found herself in a cylindrical aquarium. About four yards across and eight high, she could swirl around within the container and access the air pocket at the top but that was all. The chute that had deposited her closed and Candy moved to the glass to see where she was.

The room was a jagged underground cave with uneven walls and a rough floor. A solid pressure door was the only way in or out, and a couple of dim lights created a sinister ambience. She could see some metal frames in the shadows and perhaps some storage containers but little else.

A look around at her watertight cell found another hatch near the base which fed onto a brief slide and what appeared to be some sort of table with raised edges. It looked a lot like a sorting tray on a crab boat and she wondered if this were either her route back to dry land or the means to be sentenced to a different aquatic destiny.

Hoping that this deliverance meant that she was being returned to her owner, Candy was momentarily thrown when Toyo-tama-hiko appeared. The resemblance to her master and the dim lighting tricked her and made her think that it was he. So much so that she lurched forward and pressed herself adoringly to the side of the tank.

When she saw the scale armour of the Warlord she drifted back and merely lurked disappointedly at the bottom of her tank.

Three priests from the palace stepped out from behind his flowing cloak and readied themselves around the tray. The door was opened and the water poured out, carrying Candy with it. She slid down the chute and slapped onto the table. Their hands were upon her in an instant and pinned her down. She wriggled beneath their holds but could not escape.

Candy looked up and met the libidinous glare of the Warlord. This vision was stolen when the inflator tube was grabbed and given a brief pull. Candy squawked against her gills as she felt the massive intruder shift. Now that she was out of the depths, the weight of this bloated trespasser was far more distinct and was proving a significant internal burden.

Toyo-tama-hiko approached and accepted the inflator bulb. Candy looked up at him with a desperate beseeching expression.

‘Well, I wonder where this came from? Still, it is of no consequence. Let’s get you emptied out, slave.’

He turned the valve and water started to drool from the bulb.

‘Come on, slave. We’re not taking you out until you empty this,’ he warned.

Candy moaned softly and clenched. The flow increased and so she tightened her legs together and squeezed more fiercely. She wriggled and pushed her belly to the table as she continued to roll her tracts and press her muscles to the dildo. Bearing down on it gained the best results and time and time again she applied her strength to deflate the accursed toy. It was a strange sense of relief to crush what had for so long pained her and when the flow ebbed to a trickle, a final squeeze caused the deflated sac to slither from her body and finally pop free. Candy dropped as an enervated heap. Spots flashed on her vision from her relentless straining but the sensation of being able to close her bottom was a most welcome one, and it had been hard fought for.

‘Good, slave,’ commented the Warlord and patted her sodden hair before he turned to the priests. ‘Extract her.’

Candy just lay and rested as they started to open her various layers and pull them off. Her gills were removed, then her tail, and then the catsuit followed it. Her naked skin immediately became cold as the heat of her efforts was stolen on her sweat, and when the spines on her breast came away she gave a tight whimper.

Her panic rose a little as they grabbed her head and before she knew it, they had stolen away her contact lenses. Candy blinked to remoisten her eyes and then arched and mewled when her arms managed to stretch out and reach her sides. They had been kept restrained for so long that they now coursed with ardent pangs from being moved.

‘Oh my arms! The pain!’ she whimpered.

‘Ssssh, it will be over soon. You are evolving, Candy. Of course it will hurt,’ said the Warlord and caressed her with a soothing hand that made her flounder on the wet table amidst the limp wet layers of her former uniform.

‘Thank you, Warlord,’ she muttered, grateful beyond measure to be free of mermaid uniform and water swollen anal trespasser.

‘It seems that you acquired a lot of attention, slave,’ he said and pinched an intersection of weals to make Candy jerk and give a long mew.

‘I...I was captured a couple of times. Trapped and punished,’ she replied meekly.

‘Well we should let you recuperate for a time before bringing her to the main event,’ he said and turned to a priest. ‘Fetch a harness.’

One of the men wandered into the shadows and the sound of metal scraping against rock caught Candy’s ears. The other priests lifted her up into a seated position and a metal collar was hastily established about her throat. The collar was abnormally dense, almost an inch and a half thick, but the sounds of it against the stone were light, implying that it was hollow. The interior had dense leather-coated padding and the lofty height of the collar set her chin up and greatly restricted the movement of her head. Even against the plush padding she could feel something a little more solid pressing gently into the front of her throat.

Two metal struts were welded to the front of the band and reached outward in a wide ‘V’ shape. Set in the middle and at the end of each strut was another dense and padded restraint. Her wrists were presented to the cuffs and the two metal clasps locked tightly to the joints. Her legs were then drawn apart and entered into the fetters at the end.

Priests grabbed the struts and used them to lift her up. The collars and cuffs kept Candy in a sitting pose with her legs spread wide and they merely delivered her back to the side of the room and attached the ringlet at the back of her neck to a hook that was hanging from the roof. The men stepped back and Candy was left hanging in the air, naked and utterly defenceless.

‘You will be stored here for a time to let you recover, slave,’ announced Toyo-tama-hiko.

The Warlord stepped out in front of her and regarded the naked physique as it remained open to him. He could have easily taken her should the desire come upon him, but he merely smiled and extended his hand. A small control device was placed in it and he looked over the settings before turning a small dial.

‘I assume Warlord Hachiman has disciplined you in his own inimitable ways, so I think a higher setting will be needed to make sure you stay silent, slave.’

A button was pressed and a small red light appeared on the control before he handed it back to the priest who had given it to him.

‘Say something, slave,’ he ordered.

Candy began to mouth a word and then the collar exploded with terrible power. The device within the collar felt the resonance of her larynx and forced a brutal corrective jolt into her neck. Candy lurched against her harness and gave a shocked squeal that only made the escalated the intensity of the blast. She snatched another breath to spend on further hollers but in that instant the collar stopped. Candy snapped her jaw shut and curtailed her noises.

‘Excellent,’ said the Warlord with a chuckle.

He glanced across her one more time, and with his priests in tow, strolled from the room. Candy hung in the gloom, her body powerfully controlled, her taciturn state enforced by technological bondage, and her mind full of speculation as to what would happen to her next.

Chapter Twenty

Lady Uzume stared at herself in the mirror and continued to apply shades to her eyes and paint to her lips. She considered events and realised they were starting to spiral out of control. The plan should have been a simple one but her wishes were now clouding that which had once been so clear.

She was committing herself to a battle that was assured to end in defeat. Escaping death or capture in such a circumstance would be difficult and yet against all reason and even her master’s wishes, she was still going to pledge her personal involvement.

At first, she thought about the consequences of her demise. The first would obviously be total war with the Provinces. Having killed Kami, the Wani would go into a killing frenzy and rip across the country until they reached the sea. The Mitama would follow in their wake and eradicate all that remained. The assault on Earth could then be conducted without any fear from neighbours on Pangaea.

In the wake of her death, another person would be chosen to enter the role of Uzume. It had happened before. Not all the Kami were the original being who had taken on the role. Despite their immortality, accidents still happened. When death did occur, a kami-tsu-ko was usually the recipient because of their sheer anonymity and their lack of connection to any other Kami. Priests had favourites, fantasies, and passions. These could not be allowed to taint the purity and identity of a Kami.

Taken from their lot as a slave, they were given the unparalleled chance to become a master of what had previously dominated and controlled every aspect of their life. The closest priests to the slain Kami would form a tight-knit elite cadre to re-educate and teach the replacement all they needed to know. They often made sure the new Kami remained in seclusion until the recall of the previous incarnation had faded, and the ability to play the part for the current one was of an acceptable standard. Sometimes, an entire human lifespan was allowed to pass to make sure that not one mortal remained who had met the previous incarnation. Their teachers would then entrust hand picked replacements and end their lives, erasing the last receptacles with knowledge of the reincarnated Kami.

The new Lady Uzume would not be treated any different and would be allocated all the material possessions, authority, and achievements of that role. Toyotama-hiko would still see her as the valiant leader who stood by his Wani and he would still recruit her. It would be easier for the new Uzume to take on this new role and would probably be prepared for it during the time of indoctrination. The new Uzume would not suffer detachment from Hachiman and would barely know him except as a superior officer.

Uzume caught a tear as it started to well and threatened to ruin her makeup. She soaked it up and realised that this was the true reason she wanted to face death. She was Kami. Divine. Her iron will was made of material that could not bend or be denied. Yet inside, there were secret desires that were so powerful that they would erode that willpower from within over the course of the endless years. She had to be certain that she could handle what was too come.

If she survived the battle, it would be confirmed that she had the inner strength to endure separation from her master. But in the heat of slaughter, if her heart simply knew that it could not take that duration, then her sword arm would instinctively ail, her judgement would falter, and she would be killed.

In the event of her survival, at least she would have her new slave to console her during her detachment from Hachiman. Xiao was a wonderful distraction from her inner turmoil and was proving invaluable in focusing her on her lust, or on her duty.

Uzume tidied the slight smear caused by the budding tear, shook off her saturnine mood, and marched downstairs. Xiao looked at her with a dreary expression and trembled as she spoke.

‘Please, Goddess. I’m so hungry. I haven’t eaten since you abducted me,’ she mewled.

‘Abducted? But you were just lying there in the open - unclaimed. There’s a word for that, isn’t there, slave?’

‘Yes, Goddess,’ mumbled Xiao.

‘Well, what is it? What were you?’

‘Salvage, Goddess.’

‘True. So, I found you, ergo, you are mine.’

The girl was already well appraised in the consequences of contradicting her owner and spoke with meek reverence.

‘Y...yes, Goddess. I am yours. But please, I need food.’

‘Well, if you’re a good girl, we’ll see what we can do,’ said Uzume and started to pull down her thong. ‘In the meantime, you can eat my pussy.’

Uzume stepped over and arched her back to present her loins to the girl. She threw her head aside and clenched her eyes shut in denial.

‘No, I won’t! Never!’

‘Come on. Just a little taste. You never know, you might like it,’ chuckled Uzume.

‘No! Stop! You’re insane. You’re sick and demented!’

‘So I guess I’ll have to make you like it. But for now, let’s compromise shall we?’ she crooned and strolled to a table where she snatched up a banana from a bowl of fresh fruit.

Uzume returned and slowly peeled it before her slave’s agog eyes. The girl just stared at her with an alluring mixture of hunger and befuddlement. Once she had finished, she held the fruit out towards the girl. She strained her head forward and tried to take a bite.

‘No, not yet,’ warned Uzume and wafted the enticing food before her prisoner to ensure she piqued her hunger.

Uzume pulled over a table, climbed up, sat down before the girl, and spread her legs wide. With a malevolent smile, she started to steer the soft length into her body. Uzume arched her chest and gave a lewd moan as it slid into her already sodden tracts. She pulled it out a little and then pushed it back in to enjoy the steady succulent glide of the organic toy. With the item deeply immersed, she shuffled forward towards the girl’s face.

‘Wh...what the hell...no! No!’ she cried.

‘Come on. Open wide. You just said how hungry you were.’

‘This is insane! Stop! I beg you! I...I...’

Uzume rolled her internal muscles and started to eject the fruit. It touched the girl’s lips and she recoiled at the intimate tang of another woman.

‘No! Pleeease!’ she protested as the soft pulp started to flatten against her lips, spreading the taste of Uzume’s pussy upon them.

‘At least try it.’

The girl tried to shake her head away and avoid her fate.

‘Well, perhaps I should serve it from another orifice,’ muttered Uzume.

The girl released a horrified squawk and her mouth jumped open. Uzume dropped her head back and stared upward as she felt the girl’s panicked breaths against her inner thighs and the sound of hesitant bites reached her ears.

‘Gooood, slave. Eat it all up now,’ she ordered.

The girl sobbed and continued to meekly take the banana as Uzume let her sex squeeze it free and into the prisoner’s mouth. The girl swallowed quickly and broke into coughs and splutters. More pleas emerged over the fare.

‘No talking with your mouth full,’ said Uzume and jabbed a heel against the girl’s thigh. She gave a squeak of pain and returned to eating the meal.

The last of the banana slid free and was swallowed. Uzume stood up and watched the girl hang her head in shame. She was weeping softly, the acute derogation having done wonders to soften her psyche.

‘Still hungry?’ she asked.

The girl shook her head morosely and obviously tried to forget what she had just done. Uzume walked back to the bowl and took an apple. She marched back and dropped it on the floor in front of the girl.

‘There. For you. For being such an obedient little slut.’

The girl strained forward as best she could. She was anxious to get rid of the taste that was haunting her mouth but could not reach the fruit.

‘What? Can’t reach it?’ mocked Uzume. The girl fought her restraints and refused to answer.

‘Maybe I could help you.’

Uzume lifted a foot and gently laid her heel onto the apple. She applied weight and when the skin broke the spire drilled through the item amidst a moist crunch. After spitting the apple, she sat back down and extended her leg to wave the fruit before the gaze of her captive. The girl craned her neck forward but Uzume continued to just tease her. When lips or tongue touched the polished skin she ducked it back to leave her captive denied.

Eventually, she decided to be lenient and let the girl have her treat. Uzume stood up and with a jerk of her leg she shed the apple. It struck the floor and rolled away as the girl stared at it with imploring eyes.

‘First, an appetiser,’ said Uzume and twirled before stepping back and leaving her heel rising before the girl’s face.

Ravenous, her tongue poured against the lofty spike and lapped at the juice and the few morsels that had been pulled from the core.

‘Excellent.’

Uzume stomped over to the apple and kicked it back towards the girl. The fruit rolled to a halt right before her but remained out of reach. Uzume gave a dark titter as she watched the girl sway and fight to access the snack.

Wandering over, she placed her pointed toe to the apple and slowly applied weight. The girl smacked her lips as drool slipped from her mouth and then she gave a whimper when the item finally collapsed with a wet crunch.

Uzume stepped off the shattered fruit and sat back down. Curling a leg up, she stabbed a heel into a piece and hoisted it up for the girl. Heedless of the shame of eating in this manner, the girl closed her eyes and clamped her lips to the heel. Uzume drew away and left the fruit in the girl’s mouth. She chomped on it and swiftly gulped it down.

Her heel descended again and skewered another morsel that she again fed to her prisoner who released a delightfully sorrowful mew as she was made to suck on her captor’s heel in order to acquire her food.

Xiao was developing nicely, and for a moment, Uzume forgot all about her own woes.

Chapter Twenty One

Candy spent a long and unknown duration dangling in the corner. She rested her weary body and simply chose to hang in the frame and wait for whatever it was that the Warlord had decreed for her.

The frame was reassuring in that it offered her time to recover, but she had been so inundated with attention of late that it quickly became a serious bane. She flexed against the strong arms of the device but could not get free. She wanted to move, to feel something, to do something, and it was maddening to be held so immobile. Her pussy hungered for attention and the recent recall of the gigantic dildo, the breast spines, and the abuses and pleasures that had been heaped upon her now started to plague her every thought.

The quiet and darkness of the room let her mind wander and her latest trials were memories of the most vivid kind. Every time she let her thoughts drift she was again submerging herself in dreams of being bound and used by merciless lovers and cruel sadists. She recalled the mermaids distending her rear with pain, the denizens of the bathyspheres, and the smothering pressure of her restrictive costume.

Her thighs flicked and her body writhed against the struts. She tried to find some way to get her loins to a strut or to her fingers, but she could not defeat the stern harness. Despite this knowledge, she tried numerous times and continually fought to find a way to exploit the pose and give herself some pleasure. She was sure that there was a way, if only she could find it.

The weighty hatch entry opened and a slender woman sauntered in. She had long auburn hair that hung in dense curls about her shoulders and her green eyes glowed like jade when she looked over Candy’s body. A collar and her piercings were the only adornments to her body.

The new arrival set down her tray and her hands immediately began to travel over Candy’s body. The touch was welcomed except when it traversed her welts, so she decided to inform the girl of this. Because she had been hanging for some time she had forgotten about the collar so the savage device instantly chastised her first syllable.

‘Silly girl. You know you’re not supposed to speak while you’re convalescing,’ said the maid. ‘Or is it that you like the pain?’

The woman grabbed Candy’s breasts and squeezed at the base so that the flesh bulged and swelled with hostile feeling.

‘Are you sure you don’t want another shock from your collar?’ she crooned.

Candy bit her tongue and her face started to redden from strain. The woman rolled her knuckles and tightened her grip.

‘Come on. Give me a little cry. Let me hear you scream, just for a bit.’

Her eyes closed as she snorted for breath and fought to stop even the most meagre answer to the abuse.

‘Sure? Not even a little whimper?’

The woman held to Candy and hoisted a knee that she started to rub between her captives splayed legs. The joint was rocked against her and Candy found it even harder to stay quiet.

‘Well, how about if you come against my leg?’ asked the woman. ‘Would you like that?’

Candy was astonished at how effective the maid’s attention was with such an outlandish portion of her anatomy. Since her arrival on Pangaea, she had been used in many ways but no one had ever stimulated her with their knee before.

The boredom of her pose caused her to suddenly surge with a need for input. The feel of the smooth joint rubbing in circles against her pussy and tickling her ring was delicious, as was the woman’s misuse of her breasts as handholds to steady herself.

Suddenly the servant stopped and lowered her leg. Her staunch grip remained.

‘You don’t want to come? Well that’s fine. If you won’t ask me, then I’ll just stop,’ said the maid with a petulant huff.

Candy opened her mouth and her lips trembled as she contemplated what to do. The feel of the shock box was distinct against her throat and she feared riling it with disobedience, but her pussy was now hot and frantic for use. If she were deserted now, she would find the remainder of her bondage even more unendurable. An orgasm might temper her desires, at least for a short time.

If she could placate her infernal lust, perhaps she might actually be able to get some sleep rather than just hang in the corner, struggling against her bondage in a frenzied despairing quest to find some sort of relief.

‘What’s that? I can’t hear you,’ said the maid.

She let go of the breast and cupped the hand to her ear.

‘You want to come against my leg? Yes? Or No?’

Candy swallowed and braced for what was going to follow. Her assent was inevitable.

‘Yes!’ she barked and instantly wailed as her neck muscles were thrown to rigidity and the pain of the shock immediately made the rest of her body lurch against the frame. Candy battled to stop her cry and managed to bring it down to an anguished murmur. It still did not stop the collar so she was punished until her breath ran out. Only this managed to appease the mechanism.

Even though the attack had ended, Candy still had to continue her efforts, save that now she sought to stop herself from gurgling or moaning as she sucked in deep gasps. Her body went slack for a moment and she trembled in her bonds.

‘Good girl. But you have to ask nicely,’ she muttered.

Candy’s eyes flashed open and regarded the nefarious twinkle in her stare. The maid leaned in closer so that her breath wafted upon Candy’s cheek.

‘Be polite, and ask me nicely, slave. Go on. Right now. Or I’ll leave you all alone.’

Candy swallowed as she moved back and rolled both hands upon her breasts.

‘Please! Pl-’

The rest of the petition was turned into a caterwaul of anguish when the collar retaliated against sound. The maid laughed aloud as she watched Candy grind her jaws, croak, and whimper in distress.

Saliva trailed down her chin. She hissed through bared teeth and fought to endure the reprisal. The discipline ended and she wilted against the strong hold of the contraption.

Candy hoisted her weighty eyelids and regarded the maid with a beseeching desperation, knowing that she could not offer her another word. If the woman asked for one more syllable, Candy swore she would faint from the results.

‘Good girl. Very good. I’ll let you come then, just as you asked for so sweetly.’

Candy surged anew as the maid let go of her breasts and slid her leg back into place. This time she held to the struts and rocked the frame so that Candy’s pussy trailed along her thigh.

‘Mmmm, already so wet. You must either be quite the slut, or you’ve been kept waiting for this for some time,’ commented the woman and kept her rhythm steady and strong. Candy’s hands furled into fists and her body trembled with the fight to stay quiet. Even a wanton moan would set off the collar and she needed the pleasure too much to risk activating it again. This was a far harder feat than she was used to. It was tough to stay quiet when she was being punished and had been ordered to remain mute, but to willingly stay silent in the face of such attention was harder than she would have ever thought.

‘Come on. Let’s see you climax! I want to see this horny little whore squeal,’ muttered the woman.

The maid pressed her thigh upward even harder as she swung Candy back and forth. The additional pressure greatly emphasised her bliss and Candy’s face became a mask of ferocious strain while she struggled to stay quiet. As she focused her thoughts on the pleasure, she felt orgasm approaching. The succulent swell of warmth was forming between her legs and getting ready to erupt. Her legs shook and her toes and fingers wiggled and pawed at the air. Her breathing started to deepen and she screwed her eyes tightly closed as her jaws started to spread wider and wider on every drastic gasp.

Candy was actually afraid of climaxing in this pose. She knew that she would not be able to stay quiet, and so her pleasure would again be that terribly mesmerising cocktail of agony and ecstasy. Even though she loathed it and revelled in it with equal abandon, each time it happened she became more and more addicted to it. Candy was worried that normal orgasm would soon leave her empty inside, that a standard simple climax would almost be mundane without the impositions of restraint and the catalyst of anguish.

‘Oh you’re almost there, slave. Are you ready? Ready to scream and be punished for it?’ murmured the maid and her hands reached in to again grasp at Candy’s breasts. This time however the hold was much more gentle and her fingers flitted and danced upon her nipples, flicking the rings and making the metal tickle the tunnels that bore them.

Candy’s jaw widened and her breath rushed in and out as she started to rise towards climax. It was taking all her effort to stay silent. The woman’s rhythm was exact and never faltered, making it impossible for Candy to try and stall her bliss.

‘That’s it. Come for me, slave! Come now!’ snarled the maid and applied pinches as she suddenly stopped moving her bound toy and just jiggled her thigh against it. The sudden change and the shuddering tickle made her leap into orgasm and Candy cried out in rapture before she screamed in pain.

‘Yes! Yes! That’s it!’ gasped the woman as she watched wide eyed and enthralled as Candy juddered and bellowed while the collar blasted her for daring to make noise and her body convulsed with waves of sexual release.

The woman forced Candy through a terrible and contrary ordeal of such intensity that once again, she ran out of fuel for her screams. This stopped the collar but the residual effects of overlong stimulation were not letting her capture new air. When the thigh came away and Candy managed to snatch air, she was actually too exhausted to spend it on a cry. Instead she just dropped against the inflexible arms of the harness and simply wheezed for additional breath.

Her senses were reeling and sweat and tears dripped from her skin as her thighs gave random spasms and her chest heaved. She flicked to momentary attention as aftershocks of delight flashed through her, tightening her physique and making her sway slightly.

‘Well, now that we’ve fulfilled one need, let’s fulfil the others, shall we?’ said the woman with a light giggle hiding in her voice.

Candy heard a jar being opened and then felt a cool gel being smoothed onto her weals. The servant eased it on with careful consideration and then attentively worked it into her hide. Several generous scoops were applied and Candy stirred slightly when she felt a spoon nudging her slack lips.

‘Open up, slave.’

She managed to raise her eyelids and saw the woman offering her a measure of food. The white gruel-like substance was bland and had little flavour, but as she started to accept serving after serving it definitely quelled her hunger and seemed to energise her more than would have been expected. Every swallow made the shock box distinct against her throat and reminded her not to speak.

‘There. All done,’ commented the maid and dabbed a napkin to the corners of Candy’s mouth before placing everything back on the tray and then strolling from the room.

Candy watched her departure with adoring eyes. Another stranger had entered her life, offered her new experiences, and then vanished without even having bequeathed a name or asked as to hers. Identity was meaningless in the Empire, and the lesson that only sensation mattered was once again reinforced.

Candy closed her eyes and wondered what was intended for her next, and what those she loved were doing right now.

Chapter Twenty Two

Xiao once again listened helplessly as Lady Uzume strolled down from the upper reaches of the prison, set down some heavy items, and then stepped out before her captive. Xiao gave a shocked gasp when she saw the plexus of leather straps clutching to the woman’s hips and from her crotch jutted a large black manhood. For a moment, Xiao assumed that the woman had magically conjured herself a real penis but then she saw that it was a separate toy, worn to imitate, but still just as effective on someone as restrained as she.

‘Like it, slave?’ she purred and grabbed the phallus at its base. Stepping forward, she started to rub the head of the toy around Xiao’s face and laughed as she cringed and whimpered.

With a heartless cackle, she quickly installed a ball gag and then sashayed around the pillory. She leaned down and Xiao heard the rattle of chains before she felt cool steel closing about her wrists. The cuffs clicked and tightened and then a much larger one was installed around the base of her neck. The feel of naked steel was an unusual one. The material was too valuable to waste save on the most important and functional purposes. Squandering it on something as strange as restraint was puzzling to say the least and to Xiao it almost felt like jewellery of the most extravagant kind.

The straps on her left leg were unfastened and her ankle pulled forward until her knee was up by her breast before another cuff snatched hold of it. When her leg went limp, she found that it was connected to another chain, one that reached up and linked her wrists and collar. The other leg was similarly captured and Uzume opened the pillory and hauled her languid form from the padded surfaces.

The tyrant dropped her to the floor and closed the cuffs another few teeth to ensure they were fixed tightly to the areas that had previously been enclosed in leather. She then moved a small switch on the surface that locked them to prevent anymore closure, but only the correct key could coerce them into opening.

A glint of metal caught the light and Uzume revealed that small key in her fingers. After deliberately getting her captive’s attention she stood up and slid the item into the front of her thong. With a slight wriggle she inserted the item and gave a shudder as its chill surfaces entered her body.

Xiao lurked on the floor, remaining on all fours as the five cuffs kept her in a curtailed squat. She stretched out against the impositions and when the chains snapped taut and revealed the maximum degrees of her movement, she instead looked around.

At the base of the stairs was a wooden bucket and a large scrubbing brush. Uzume marched to it and grabbed a leather stem from which a bushel of long thick straps emerged.

‘Well, what are you waiting for? Get to it!’ snarled Uzume.

The woman gathered the ends of the straps in one fist and yanked to make them snap together with a sharp cry.

Xiao started to scuttle over to the items and gave barks of pain when she accidentally knelt on the trailing chains. Keeping her legs wide and her hands close together, she dragged the weighty lengths beneath her and grabbed the brush as soon as she arrived.

The flogger flew in an overhead arc and descended across her back. The brutal signal made her jolt as heat spread through the assailed region. Uzume let the tentacles loiter on her for a moment and then trailed them aside. The leather slithered against her skin and fell away before being carried in another full circle. This time they swept down into the crease of her rear and the tips spanked to her pussy. Xiao gave a shriek and jumped up, only to be stalled by the collar. She dragged her hands up with her and then collapsed back to the ground, pressing her cheek to the wood and holding to the brush for strength as the scathing fires in her loins made her sob and chew on her gag.

‘Get to work, slave!’ ordered Uzume, and the flogger dropped across a wide expanse of her back to push her down towards the ground. The straps remained on her as a warning and Xiao humbly reached up, dropped the brush in the water, and started to scrub diligently at the timbers.

‘Come on, slut. Faster! I want this done before sundown!’ growled Uzume but left the flogger in place. Xiao scrubbed as quickly as she could, throwing her upper body into each shove as she felt the leather shifting on her back.

An arbitrary jerk carried the flogger aside and Xiao cringed in anticipation of another stroke.

‘No delays!’

Uzume stepped behind her and after using the side of her boot to offer a light kick into Xiao’s bottom, she laid the weapon to the base of her back. Xiao’s hindquarters sank towards the ground and she recommenced her work with new gusto.

‘Yes, much better. But get that arse up! Show me your pussy!’

Xiao shuddered at the coarse attitude and the derision with which she was being regarded. Nevertheless, the flogger and the woman’s brutal tones were not to be denied and so even though it savaged her with derogation to do so, she brought her legs inward and elevated her rear.

She felt a boot step onto her buttock and then jab the heel into her.

‘Leg’s apart! Nice and wide!’

Scrubbing and weeping, Xiao drew her knees apart and arched her front down towards the ground to comply. It made scrubbing even harder, but she persevered as best she could.

‘Yes, much better. Maybe I should fuck this tight little hole,’ murmured Uzume.

The rounded toe of her boot reached up and nuzzled between Xiao’s rear. She wriggled the end against her sphincter, digging into it and churning it around.

‘Would you like that? Hmmm?’

Xiao’s eyes widened with humiliation as she was abused. She could not believe that another being could be so disgustingly depraved. The Kami were like nothing she could have expected. They gained intense satisfaction from the most bizarre and unseemly behaviour and acts, as though all composure and conscious had been stripped from them. Truly they were devils incarnate and if she did not accept their obloquy, they would brutalise her instead.

‘Would it be fun for you, slave? To feel me rape your arse? Maybe I should have you beg for it first.’

Xiao tried to ignore the animus coming from the woman and focus instead on her task. It became harder when her captor shifted her foot up and started to prod at her rear with her heel. When she acquired no response, she put the sole back into place and gave a vituperative shove that threw Xiao forward and dropped her onto her front. She landed into the puddle of water and onto her chains. The uneven links afflicted her front and she rolled and struggled to get back up off them. Pressing hands and knees into the coils was a further trial and then Uzume started to apply the flogger again. The leather dropped down onto her back and rear, spanking her with venom until she was again scrubbing the floor.

Uzume paced around the demeaned form of Xiao and continued to offer insult and crass comments that she indispersed with a bilious application of the flogger.

Xiao was made to scrub every inch of the floor, often being called upon to repeat an area that was deemed unsuitable. These areas were the hardest to finish because Uzume beat her with alacrity while she rectified her mistake.

Eventually though, the room was finished and Xiao sagged from fatigue. Uzume hung her flogger on a hook on the wall and took down a bamboo cane with a curved handle and a wickedly lithe length.

‘You’re not done yet, slave. There’s more!’

Xiao gave a resigned sigh as she anticipated being ushered to another storey and made to repeat her entire ordeal over again. Instead the elegant leather-clad leg of her oppressor stamped down between her chained wrists.

Xiao let go of the brush with one hand and drew backwards. Uzume swung her foot back and kicked the utensil from her grasp. Xiao gave a brief squeak and clutched the battered fingers to her breast as she looked up Uzume. The tyrant leaned down and grabbed the back of her plait before yanking up. The harsh pull made Xiao drop her face back down whereupon the rear of the gag was set free. The buckle was drawn up, twisting her head around and dragging the bloated orb from her lips.

Uzume placed the handle of the cane under her armpit and then held it there so the same hand could grab the tip and then hoist the weapon high into the air. She hooked the handle into a ringlet in the ceiling above them and with the freed hand she grabbed Xiao. She sank fingers and thumb into her cheeks to purse her lips together. She snarled and applied more pressure, digging in and making her jiggle in her kneeling pose.

‘Mmmm. This makes your mouth look like your bottom. Maybe I should fuck this hole first.’

Uzume tossed the ballgag aside and started to trace her forefinger around the puckered orifice.

‘Maybe that would be preferable for you though. You seem virginal, but maybe the men of your village have already made use of this opening,’ she mused cruelly.

The finger started to push into her mouth and then ride back and forth. The woman pushed in and squeezed her other hand to ensure Xiao’s lips were kept pressed to the intruder. The thought of having a male use her in such a way had never occurred to Xiao. Her life had been kept away from such things and to be taken in such a manner was outlandish and absurd, yet through Uzume’s actions she could now see how it could be done and it horrified her.

The woman giggled as she saw the confusion written in Xiao’s eyes. The finger slipped out and tapped her nose.

‘Tongue. Out. Now.’

Xiao pushed and managed to strain the organ through the tight hole.

‘Now use your tongue, slave.’

Uzume used the hold to her slave’s face and threw her back down at her feet before straightening up and folding her arms across her chest. Xiao started to rise but Uzume merely lifted her other leg and placed her boot between her shoulder blades. The heel gathered fresh weight and demanded that she lower while guiding her towards the other boot.

‘Lick it,’ ordered Uzume and took the cane back down from its lofty anchor.

Fearful of the consequences of disobedience, Xiao swallowed her pride and started to lap at the red leather. She spread saliva on the hide and traced around the toe and instep before hoisting the tip up and down the dagger heel. When she reached the woman’s ankles, Uzume took the subjugating boot from her back and stood with legs apart to let Xiao curl round and round, rising higher with every lap.

‘Veeeery good, slave. It’s so pleasing to watch that impudent rear swinging in the air as you work and worship my legs.’

There was a hum of displaced air and the tip of the cane sank into Xiao’s left buttock. She jerked into a ball and quaked. The assailed area seemed to bloat with a thumping havoc that refused to fade.

‘No slacking!’ snapped Uzume and applied another swipe to Xiao’s other cheek. The second detonation of lucid pain made her throw her head down and embrace the toe of the boot in her mouth. She sucked on it for comfort and security as she flashed her tongue to the hide and quaked from the awful effects of the cane. As the scorching pulse started to ebb, she let her jaws widen so she could start to lick easier.

When she reached Uzume’s heel, another stinging swipe landed on the side of her thigh. The stroke made her rear tumble aside and slap to the floor. She clutched her arms to her chest and her shins tangled upon themselves as she jolted and fought to endure the withering amerce. Sprawled on her side, it was easier to swing her head left and right and lick the heel, but another stroke to her hip again corrupted her efforts.

Uzume turned around and stamped her heels down to gain Xiao’s attention.

‘From ankle to hem in single laps, slave. Do it! Do it, now!’

Xiao rolled onto her front and gasped for breath before she set free her tongue and laid it the warm leather. Shivering, she trailed the organ all the way up the long elegant legs and stopped just before she trespassed onto skin. The leather rippled with sultry motions as the woman clearly savoured both Xiao’s plight and the feel of a subservient tongue upon her footwear.

When she had attended the rear of the boot, Uzume turned around and had her attend the front. After she had made her eighth voyage from floor to upper thigh, Uzume grabbed her by the plait.

‘Suck.’

The dildo prodded her lips and caused Xiao to give a repelled spasm.

‘I said suck it, slave!’

‘I ca-’ she began, and the woman exploited the protestation to throw her hips forward and sink the toy into Xiao’s mouth. Her eyes bulged as it breached the back of her throat and made her retch. Uzume let go at the same moment and this caused Xiao to catapult herself away and collapse onto her flank where she continued to cough and gurgle.

A moment later, her reactions became far more drastic as the cane started to rain down upon her. The bilious rod hissed through the air and laid itself to her thighs and rear, and when she flipped over to defend the regions, it filled the fronts of them with equal servings of harrowing.

The intensity of the caning was more than Xiao could stand and she became a mindless creature of response. There was no ability to fight or try and escape, all she could do was throw herself around on the floor. She was even ignorant of the times when she travelled across her chains and pained her body.

Screaming for mercy and wailing in despair, Xiao convulsed and wrenched at her restraints while trying in vain to defend her abused body.

The withering blizzard of swipes stopped and Xiao was left in a tight bundle, sobbing and quaking as every searing line continued to pound with a steady and remorseless pulse of its own. Slick with sweat and with tears streaking her face, she wept freely and became dizzy from the strange intoxicating surge that ran through her mind. The pain had been more than she dared believe possible and the stark contrast to an unpunished state was enough of a decline to bring a creepy form of rapture.

Uzume used the toe of her boot to kick Xiao’s thighs apart and then she leant her toe to her prisoner’s groin. The sole of the boot started to stroke with small and precise movements. Still phased by the caning, Xiao only registered a sultry pleasure and not the manner in which it was being delivered. She gave a groan and trembled as the toe continued to tease her loins and the sound of moisture cackling against the leather suddenly snapped her from her torpor.

‘Oh God! No! Stop! No!’ she cried and threw her thighs together against the boot while trying to scuttle away.

‘Goddess!’ corrected Uzume and made Xiao shriek as she laid her most brutal stroke yet. Employing all of her considerable strength, the weapon dropped with meteoric intent and caused her breast to ripple from the impact. The single stroke dropped her back to the floor and her chest arched into the air as her jaws stretched wide and a long and soul-torn howl raged in her throat.

Xiao clamped her hands to the site of woe and dropped back to the floor. She entered a sobbing fit of despair and her oppressor’s foot exploited her quiescent state and again started to tease her. Appraised of the penalty for resisting, Xiao laid where she was and just accepted this dissolute attack. As demeaning as it was, the pleasure of being played with was at least mitigating the throbbing angst lurking in the countless rosy stripes that were crossing her body. Some were already darkening into crimson streaks, and these were the ones that were throbbing the most distinctly.

‘Yeeesss, you like that, don’t you. You can offer this virginal façade, but I know there’s a wanton little whore in there somewhere, and I intend to find her!’ said Uzume with a sibilant and libidinous purl.

Xiao bit her tongue and declined to retort. The foot started to find its work easier as it conjured fresh moisture from its subject and Xiao started to lose herself to the play. She hated everything this woman did to her, but the skill with which she was being manipulated could not be resisted. All she knew here was pain, so what could be the harm in embracing this vague moment of pleasure?

The toe started to work harder and Xiao’s breathing deepened as her belly rolled and her knees swayed in the air. Her hips began to roll her loins and she pushed up to grind herself against the toe with every increasing enthusiasm.

‘Yes, there we are. Look at you on the floor. Fucking my toe like a horny little slut. That’s it, slave. I want to see you come against the boot of your Goddess!’

The words were an insult that snapped her from her trance and Xiao thrust her hindquarters back to the ground to try and escape. If she allowed herself to give in and climax, she would have given in to the desires of this vile devil. Was Uzume trying to seduce her, defile her, make her willingly subject herself to these twisted pleasures and heinous pains? Sorcery was clearly afoot and Xiao had to fight it lest she lose her soul.

‘If that’s what you want, then so be it.’

The cane shot forth on an underarm swing that caused its hissing tip to land in the very area that had been so full of rhapsody just seconds ago. The effect was catastrophic. Xiao’s world vanished amidst a sheet of effulgent misery and she shot out from under the cane. Rolling across the floor like a leaf in the wind, she eventually crashed into the wall. Xiao dropped down and shrivelled into a ball, her breath jumping in and out as she screamed and howled for deliverance from the unbelievable level of pain.

Finally she heard the sound of Uzume walking over to her and through blurred and tear filled eyes she saw the tip of the cane. Xiao whimpered and quavered under its shadow. She was utterly defeated by its impossible potency.

‘You want another caning, slave?’ asked the woman.

Xiao’s tardy response resulted in the bamboo tip prodding at a particularly vivid intersection of welts. The assaulted flesh responded poorly to the bullying and the fresh influx of pain forced words from Xiao’s listless mouth.

‘No, Goddess. Please, I’ll do whatever you want. Just no more of the cane. I...I can’t survive it.’

‘Nonsense. You can take much more, and you will. But for now, I want to see this cringing bitch suck this cock and masturbate as she does it.’

The defamation of such a deed struck her like a slap, but it was nothing compared to the kisses of the cane. With a resigned push, Xiao managed to pull herself back up onto her knees whereupon her eyes greeted the jutting erect replica.

‘Weeeeell,’ hummed Uzume.

Xiao opened her mouth and slotted it onto the toy. Closing her lips, she mimicked the motions that Uzume had shown with her finger.

Uzume stood to attention and watched her efforts with stark amusement.

‘That’s it. Take it nice and deep,’ she murmured.

Xiao pushed further and recoiled as it made her gag. Uzume just laughed.

‘And don’t forget to play with yourself, slut,’ she hissed and grabbed the back of Xiao’s head before offering a small pelvic thrust to repeat the trauma. Xiao gurgled and retched before dropping her manacled hands into position. Masturbation was a rare indulgence for Xiao. Due to the dangers of slavers, raiders, rapists, and kidnappers she was always being watched, even at night. The opportunity rarely came and when it did, it was usually in the halcyon splendour of her secret lake. Now she was being forced to do something she dearly loved, but could hardly ever embrace because of publicity. This made performing for another person a potent taboo and Xiao found trouble in complying. Even the fake fellatio was easier on her.

Xiao tightened her oral hold and started to stroke her humid loins.

‘No teeth!’ snarled Uzume and offered some light slaps to Xiao’s cheeks by way of correction.

Xiao hastened her autoerotic activity to compensate for the minor fury that was now saturating her cheeks. She hollowed her cheeks with suction and tried to keep her jaws apart to a degree where the toy would not scrape against her teeth as she hauled on it with her mouth.

Attending the toy started to become easier as she continued to dance her digits to her sex, stroking her lips and pawing at her clit with faster and more drastic movements. Soon, the pleasure was weaving its magic on her and her hips began to sway as she started to suck with greater devotion and murmur with delight.

Suddenly, Uzume revealed that she was now aroused beyond tolerance. After placing a hand to Xiao’s cheek she simply shoved her to one side. The dildo stretched her mouth as she slithered from it and then dropped to the floor, collapsing down onto her moistened hands before her body struck the ground.

Before she could react, Uzume jumped behind her, grabbed her plait, and hauled up. She slapped the other hand under her chin to apply another grapple and then thrust. The dildo rushed into Xiao and opened her for the first time.

Uzume’s holds were tested to their limit as Xiao jerked with a monstrous pulse of reaction. The pain of penetration immediately swirled around the rapture of having the saliva sodden length glide into her already wet tracts. Xiao screamed even more potently than when she was being caned and this wail rose in octaves when Uzume drew back and then thrust into her again.

Xiao tried to leap away and escape the penetration but Uzume held tight and continued to jolt back and plough the toy into her captive. Xiao’s hands jumped back to try and fend the woman off but the chain brought her efforts to an abrupt halt.

Screeching for mercy against this excruciating bliss, Xiao was ravished with cold-blooded fury until she swore that she would be torn apart by another thrust. The pleasure of being ravished was unlike anything she had experienced, it had a deep, potent quality that she found terrifying and exhilarating.

Uzume again flung her aside and off the toy before she got up, leaving her captive to quake on the ground and recover from the pleasure in the same way she permitted her moments to recuperate from the pain of chastisement.

‘I’m going to give you a choice, slave. I can jump on you and fuck you until you come. Or you can go free. I can give you sexual release, or physical release. Your choice.’

Xiao spun her head around and regarded the woman.

‘Y...you’re serious. I can leave?’ she burbled, not able to believe that an offer of freedom was being made. Was it true or just some cruel trick designed to further batter her psyche?

‘If you want to. Do you?’

The savagery of the molestation was still haunting her pussy and Xiao knew that if she felt that succulent device in her a moment longer, she would not be able to defy and would beg for the chance to orgasm. Penetration had shown her a form of pleasure that she had never felt before, and she was intrigued to see how much further it would take her. She had to get out. Now.

‘I want to leave. I want my freedom.’

‘As you wish. First you’ll need the key to those cuffs,’ she said and began to unbuckle the harness. The toy came away and she flung it aside before standing with legs astride and hands on hips.

‘Well, come and get it then.’

‘B...but it’s...I...I mean...’

‘Your feeble gibberish won’t get it out, slave. Only your tongue will.’

‘Oh please, don’t make me do that. Just let me take it out with my hands. Isn’t that bad enough.’

‘If I’m to let you go free, I believe I can lay down the parameters. So, if you want the key to uncuff yourself, you’ll have to take it by force, from my pussy. Understand?’

‘Y...yes, Goddess.’

Xiao crawled forward on hands and knees with chains dragging and rattling beneath her. She stopped at the woman’s feet and rose up. With a final resigned glance upward she looked at the red leather thong and swallowed.

‘Take down my underwear first.’

Xiao took the sides and drew down to pull them out from under the corset and then she dragged them down to Uzume’s ankles. The smooth shaven sex of the woman appeared and Xiao filled her mind with the recall of what she had endured here, and the possibility of escaping it if she could just perform this one final act of derogation.

With a sudden mental bluster of commitment she leaned in, closed her eyes, and stretched her tongue into the wet sex of her tormentor. Uzume stiffened and groaned aloud as she felt the entry and instantly clenched her tracts.

Xiao squeezed her hands into fists and pushed her tongue against the internal muscles of the woman. The organ burned from strain as she tried to get deep enough to find the key but Uzume was not making it easy. Xiao started to push with steady motions, trying to wear down the internal defences but this just seemed to excite the woman and bolster her resistance. Xiao pushed her lips to those of the woman and swirled her tongue around to try and locate the elusive key. Uzume shuddered against her.

‘Oh yes, slave. Almost there. All...most...I...’ panted Uzume and in an uncharacteristic act she placed her hands about the back of Xiao’s head and neck and pulled her in. Even so, she still held her pussy tight so Xiao had to fight harder to slither around and find her means of redemption. Uzume’s words gave Xiao heart for they meant that she was close to getting the key. When she increased her efforts, Uzume jerked and cried out. With a long howl she convulsed and held forcefully to Xiao.

A metal taste spread on Xiao’s tongue as the key slithered free and dropped onto her tongue. Uzume staggered back, seemingly exhausted by her fight and now drained in defeat.

Xiao seized the chance and started to uncuff herself. The wet key slipped against the metal as her hands trembled and the taste of the woman continued to hang on her tongue. The cuffs sprang open and fell from her extremities before she fumbled for the one on her neck. When she found the hole and opened the collar, she scampered onto her feet.

‘I can go now?’

‘Pardon?’ said Uzume with a sultry purl while she leaned against the wall.

‘You said I could go free!’

‘So I did. Come this way.’

Uzume pulled up her thong, strolled passed her, and walked onto the stairs. Xiao could not believe her luck. By resisting Uzume had she proved herself immune to seduction? Could the Kami only keep an innocent for a certain duration and if they failed to corrupt them, then they had to set them free?

Xiao followed the woman down to another chamber that was clearly some sort of lounge or reception hall. The floor had several deep fur rugs and on the other side of the room was a dense double door. Uzume walked over to it and turned round. A wicked glower was now on her lips.

‘All you have to do is get by me,’ she growled.

‘Bu...but you...you said I...’

‘I said that if you got the key you could go free. You have freed yourself. You are free. You wanted to leave. We left the chamber in which I was holding you. I mentioned nothing of total freedom, but am willing to let you try and grab it.’

‘Monster!’ screamed Xiao, her tolerance finally gone.

She ran at the woman with hands outstretched and fingers twisted into claws to gouge at her. If she could quickly disable the woman, she could open the door and run away.

Uzume side stepped and a knee jumped up and sank into Xiao’s stomach, doubling her over with a startled croak. With her breath stolen and a ghastly throb in her belly, Xiao was momentarily crippled.

Uzume chuckled and grabbed her sides to spin her about and then place her foot to Xiao’s bottom. A disdainful shove sent her careening across the room to drop at the bottom of the steps.

‘If that’s the best you’ve got, you may as well put the cuffs back on and march yourself back upstairs, slut. Then I’ll fuck you so hard, you’ll faint.’

Xiao coughed and straightened up. With another ferocious charge she ran at her enemy and desperately tried to grab her. Uzume moved almost faster than Xiao could keep track of and suddenly a pair of slim hands clamped about her outstretched wrists. The strength in them and in Uzume’s stance stopped Xiao dead in her tracks and as her arms folded on the last of her momentum, a swift knee between her legs lifted her feet from the floor. When she landed and her legs folded under her, Uzume threw aside and sent Xiao into a clumsy sprawl.

Mewling and holding her aching pussy, she gave a shriek and struggled as hands grabbed her left ankle and turned it. The rending sorrow in the joint caused her to roll over onto her front. The instep of a thighboot nudged into the back of her neck and pushed her face into the floor. A moment later she wailed as her ankle was turned further, twisting her leg and making her squirm and flounder. She tried to reach back and move the pinning foot but she had no leverage and nowhere near the strength.

‘Say you want to be my slave!’ ordered Uzume.

‘Never! I hate you!’ she shrieked.

‘Hate me all you want, but you’ll still be my slave, and I want you to ask for it!’ hissed Uzume. She hoisted the ankle higher and turned it to make Xiao shriek even louder.

‘Noooooo!’ she roared definitely.

Uzume let go and backed up towards the door. She stood poised on her heels as Xiao awkwardly got back to her feet and limped to the wall to catch her breath.

‘The only way out of here is either back upstairs to be my slave, or through me to freedom. Come on, you weak little tramp. Let’s see if you have any backbone, or have you been pampered all your life and don’t have any fight in you.’

Xiao gave a cry of indignation and rushed back at the woman with all the venom she could muster. Uzume ducked and let the attacking arms sail overhead. She sprang up, grabbed shoulders, deviated Xiao’s impetus, and delivered her into the door she so desperately sought.

A flash of white signalled the connection and Xiao bounced from the timbers with a jarring thud. Just as her senses cleared she saw red stretch before her eyes and the back of Uzume’s leg suddenly hooked around the front of her throat and jerked back and down. Xiao was folded backward until the woman’s other thigh met the small of her back. Xiao screamed from the pose as she was contorted over Uzume’s thigh, the back of her head now on the ground. Arched into an incredible bow over the woman’s leg, her arms rushed out to claw at her, only to be grabbed at the wrist and then turned to lock them into position and make every joint thunder with distress.

‘Say you want to be my slave!’ she ordered. The tyrant turned her holds before pushing and arching Xiao even further.

‘No! No! No!’ she bellowed and threw her legs up to try and cast her knees into Uzume’s head. The woman stretched back and the incoming limbs flashed passed and sailed over Xiao’s body, causing her to perform a backwards roll that devolved into a disorganised tumble when her wrists were released.

Uzume returned to the door and stood with arms folded across her breasts.

‘Is that it. Are we done?’ she asked coolly and then examined her nails to check for any damage caused by Xiao’s trivial offensives.

‘Let me go!’ howled Xiao and again charged, employing all her lingering strength.

Uzume performed a sudden pirouette and Xiao caught a brief glimpse of red and black before a scathing slap dodged her arms and crossed her cheek. The ferocity threw her head aside and the pirouette continued and dropped so that a shin could swing out and take her feet from under her.

Xiao landed on her back and the wind was thrown from her lungs. Uzume skipped forward, dropped a foot on either side of the prostrate girl, nudged her arms in against her sides and then dropped down onto her. The woman’s legs clenched in and squeezed Xiao’s arms to her sides, leaving her hands pawing impotently at the boots and heels.

She squirmed and Uzume let her discover just how helpless she was.

‘Ready to be mine, slave?’

‘No!’ barked Xiao and a slap stung her cheek before striking the other.

‘How about now?’

‘Get off me, you demon!’

Uzume clapped a hand across Xiao’s mouth and the other pinched her nose shut to stop her breath. Xiao jerked and fought to get away but there was nothing she could do.

‘Admit you want to be my slave.’

The hand on her mouth lifted a little. Xiao tried to think of something to say, but was lost for words. The woman slapped her cheeks a few more times and each swipe stole away more of Xiao’s ability to defy.

‘Well? Do you? Answer me!’

Uzume curled an arm back across her body and held the back of the hand towards Xiao. Readying to slam it down onto her face, the vile creature grinned malignantly.

‘Okay, okay...I...I...’

‘Yes?’ purred Uzume, and the muscles of the limb visibly flexed as she readied to deliver a hearty smack.

‘Please, Goddess, let me be your slave,’ she uttered miserably. There was no point fighting any more. She was vanquished and she knew it.

‘Good. Now pick up your cuffs, go back upstairs, and lock yourself back in them,’ she said lightly while climbing off of the defeated form.

Xiao rolled over and started to crawl towards her restraints. She picked them up and trudged drearily upstairs, readying to once again surrender to their control and become the property of this sadistic monster.

Lady Uzume heard the drawbridge being operated and with a huff of irritation wandered upstairs after her slave. She padlocked the middle of her chains to a ring in the wall and told her to kiss each of her nipples in gratitude. The slave complied with sombre reverence, and each peck made Uzume quiver with glee at having so effectively subjugated her property. After complimenting her slaves act of obeisance, she hurried back downstairs.

Uzume’s heart was still racing from the fight and she tried to calm herself while waiting for the portcullis to rise.

When the knock came, she opened the doors and stepped out onto the drawbridge as two officers of the Mitama laid the body of Masuda down on the ground and then remained on their knees. The warriors armour was cracked in places and every inch of surface was riddled with dozens of impact craters from arrow and bullet. Finally, the integrity of his protective shell had failed under this withering abuse and then eaten through the woven discs of dense material beneath. Dried lines of red emerged from six holes across his chest.

‘Tell me what happened,’ she uttered sombrely.

‘Masuda was planning to circumvent the mountains and commence an attack on the Provincial towns along Calolloom Lake. He was sure that the army would retreat to tackle the threat, but they emerged from the mountains and began a march towards our position here. The Wani battalions intercepted them and held firm. Masuda led the cavalry against the flank of the enemy as they emerged, but even so, their numbers were too vast and although we managed to break their lines, they have fled into the peaks and are regrouping. The Wani have dug in to defend our retreat so we might inform you, Lady Uzume, but they are unlikely to hold for long.’

‘Masuda was a great man and a loyal servant of the Kami. This will not be the last chapter in his career. Ready all forces. I will not leave our Wani to stand alone while we crawl back to the Empire in disgrace. Ready my mount. We go to finish what my second in command started.’

‘Bu...I...Lady Uzume, we are outnumbered at least fifty to one. A Kami of your status cannot be-’

‘Do not presume to tell a Kami what they can or cannot do,’ she said sternly.

‘My absolute apologies, Lady Uzume. It is just...well...they are so many...we are so few. We must not let you be put in jeopardy, th-’

‘I am Kami in the Great Houses of Fire. I ride with those who worship me, and I will lead us to victory. Then we will return to the Empire and give Masuda a fitting burial, one that is proudly cloaked in victory, not stained with defeat.’

‘I conquer!’ roared the officers.

‘We conquer,’ corrected Uzume and both men jerked as though struck. Their deity was riding with them into war. All trace of doubt was now gone.

Uzume turned to go and gather her armour. The supply force would be despatched to begin the return voyage and take Xiao out of harms way. Lady Uzume would ride with her forces and engage the enemy. Defeat was certain, and she would have to retreat, but by reinforcing the Wani she was sending a powerful message. To the Empire, the Wani were expendable and would accept catastrophic losses on the whim of the Kami, by siding with them, and fighting to save them, she would astound Toyotama-hiko and make him believe that she cared a great deal about these loyal foot soldiers. His seduction would come even more swiftly because of it. If she perished in the fight, her replacement would be propositioned instead, just as she had anticipated and in some ways, hoped for.

Destiny would now decide the fate of Uzume, her slave, and that of the Empire.

The fates of Kami and slave entwine and are revealed in Dragon Candy 3: Bondage Plaything.

Glossary for the Kami Empire

Izanagi and Izanami: The creator deities, the names of the two forces whose interplay create and move the Vortex between Earth and Pangaea.

The Kami: the various deities of earth and heaven. The lords and manifestations of thought, deed, and substance.

Mitama: The essence or emanation of god or spirit. The name given to the Imperial Army that enforces the will of the Kami and marches under the banner of A-Katsu (I conquer).

Shintai: The God body, the earth form, or symbol of a deity.

The Primary Powers of the Kami Empire

Yatakagami: The Sun Goddess. Supreme Ruler of the land who is always accompanied by her sacred crow – Yatagarusa.

Musubi: Lord of growth. He is the tactician, the planner, and chief advisor to the Sun Goddess.

Tsuki-yomi: The Moon God. The lord of darkness. He is the keeper of time and his House plots the path of the Vortex on Earth. His House alone is not subject to the rule of the Sun Goddess.

Amatsu mika hoshi (Dread star of heaven): He knows all, but cannot leave his shrine. He controls a vast and highly secretive spy network that watches the Empire, the lands about them, and trains the operatives that go across to Earth to send ships and planes into the Vortex. He is the chief advisor to the Moon God.

The Kami of Water

Toyo-tama-hiko (Rich jewel prince): Supreme Warlord of the Water.

Naka-tsu-wata-dzu-mi (Middle sea body): His House conducts submerged patrols in the ocean waters. His troops ride aquatic Dinosaurs such as the seventeen metre long Kronosaurus.

Uha-tsu-wata-dzu-mi (Upper sea body): His House provides surface vessels and reptilian steeds to protect and patrol the ocean traffic.

Soko-tsu-wata-dzu-mi (Bottom sea body): Warlord of the deep. His House oversees seabed construction and harvesting, along with ocean bed mining for valuable minerals.

Midzu-chi (Water-father): Warlord of the Rivers. His House conducts river patrols to maintain security and order either by boat, or on trained fifteen metre long Phobosuchus (Horror crocodile).

Midzuha no me (Water-female): The concubines of the Great Houses of Water.

Idzu no Midzuha no me (Sacred-Water-female): Concubines that have been elevated through exemplary conduct, like Kamube.

The Kami of Air

Ame no minaka-nushi: Supreme Warlord of the air

Shinatsu-hiko: Lord of the Wind. His House is responsible for the sending of all radio communication.

Shinatobe: Lady of the Wind. Her House is responsible for the receiving of all radio communication.

Hayachi (Swift father): The Messenger. His House handles all overland messages and items of import, and sees to their safe delivery.

The Kami of Fire

Take-mika-dzuchi (Brave-dread-father): The master of thunder, Warlord of the artillery regiments.

Hachiman: the Warlord who commands the Mitama.

Ame-waka-hiko (heaven-young-prince): His Mikado and highest-ranking general.

Uzume (Dread female): His most feared and ruthless agent.

Ashua: Guardian Warlord of the courtyard, protector of the inner lands. His House is the police force of the Empire.

Toyotama-hiko: the Dragon Warlord. He is part Wani and second in command to Warlord Hachiman.

Wani (Dragon): Eggs of the Dinosaur tribes were taken centuries ago and the offspring raised as Wani. From the best of these warriors were bred more until an army was created. They are now fanatically loyal warriors. They are fierce, fearless, and serve as the backbone of the Mitama.

The Kami of Earth

Kagu-tsuchi (Radiant father): The fire god. Lord of power and energy, his House runs the nuclear plants.

Kamado no Kami: The furnace deity. Lord of the furnaces of wood, oil, coal, and hydroelectricity.

Inari: The Lord of the rice fields. His House sees to the feeding of the general population.

Susa no wo: The Lord of rain. His House oversees all plumbing and irrigation.

Oho-toshi (Great harvest): The lord of gathering. His House sees to the harvest and the safe storing of all food.

Uka no mitama: Lord of the food spirit. His House ensures good crops and plentiful harvests. They provide knowledge, equipment, and expertise to guarantee growth. They breed and raise the best herds for slaughter. They also train humans to fulfil the role of beasts.

Ho no Susori: Lord of the fishermen. His House builds boats, provides equipment, and sees to the smooth running of the fishing fleet.

Hohodemi: Lord of the hunt. His House hunts Dinosaurs to replenish the stock. They also see to the breeding and training of new steeds and herd animals for domestic use. They also train human ponies.

Sukuna-bikona: (Little prince): A House of dwarves that see to the brewing of wines and other drink. They also produce many medicinal remedies and maintain a large medicinal thermal springs. It is in his underground palace that the sacred spring of longevity is located.

Temmangu: The Lord of learning and calligraphy. They are the teachers of the young and old, and indoctrinate and educate new slaves.

Ishikoridome: The stonecutter Lord. His House is one of architecture and building.

Toyo-tama: (Rich jewel): His House are jewellers, and makers of finery.

Ohonamochi: Lord of physicians. His House tends the injured, the sick, and the many slaves of the Empire to ensure their health and survival.

Yama tsu mi (Mountain-body): Lord of the trees. His House is responsible for tree-cutting, lumber, timber, and the maintaining of forests.

The ranks of the Kami Priesthood

Mikado: Chief Priests of a Kami. They see to the running of the House and its affairs and responsibilities.

Nakatomi: Mediators between the priests and the Kami. They regulate and assign the slaves of a House as the Kami or Mikado decree.

Imbe: The preparers. They ensure that the lower ranks see to the preparation, cleanliness, and order of slaves, equipment, and chambers.

Hafuri: Inferior grade priests that see to the basic tasks of the House and its responsibilities.

Negi: The lowest priestly rank that is responsible for the most mundane functions of the House.

Kamube: A slave who has earned freedom through exemplary conduct and service and now tends the House as the priest’s dictate while still holding authority over other Kami-tsu-ko.

Kami-tsu-ko: A slave dedicated to a House.

The Underworld of the Kami Empire

Yomi: The land of darkness where slaves and criminals are banished. Once sent to Yomi, one may never return unless via personal pardon from both Sun Goddess and Moon God.

Bimbo-gami: The Lord of poverty. The Kami of sexual frustration, teasing, and enforced chastity.

Naki-sahame: The Lady of weeping. The feared sadistic dominatrix of Yomi.

Ashiki kami: The rulers of Yomi.

Oni: The inhabitants of Yomi. Many are former Hafuri-tsu-mono and have been elevated from that caste to assist in the running of the realm.

Hafuri-tsu-mono (flung away things): Those sent to Yomi.