Chapter Three

Lady Uzume could see numerous smudged streams of black rising from the mountains. Thousands of campfires were soiling the sky above the peaks with a spectral cloud that drifted off into the distance. The enemy forces were definitely mustering back into a cogent force after her second in command had broken their lines and routed them at the cost of his life.

Her mount continued to trudge onwards as the bulk of her forces followed reverently in her wake. It would take a few more days to reach the peaks and on the plains before them, destiny would be unveiled.

Uzume had bound her new toy as tightly as possible and left her in pained, demeaned isolation. The supply convoy had then been sent back to the Empire.

With a hand on her sword, she clenched to feel the reassuring presence of her most prized blade. It had served her in countless battles, but never one as important and decisive as the one she now faced. Uzume knew she might not survive this fight, and this was the very reason she was so eager to embrace it.

Warlord Hachiman was her beloved master, and yet he had sent her here to provoke war with the Eastern Provinces while he gauged the combat readiness of the Houses of Water. The invasion of Earth was being planned and to guarantee success, not only would they need to make sure they had solid naval support when they crossed over, but also that their neighbours on the home realm did not make a move on the Empire. If the Provinces noticed the bulk of the Imperial forces vanishing over to assault the other world, they might be provoked into indulging an invasion of their own.

In addition, there were those who believed that her master had too much power over the Imperial armies and so they greatly sought to diminish this influence. Hachiman had decided to take the incentive and was intending for the Warlord of the Wani to seek her hand in joint command over that species. There was no chance that a hybrid such as Toyotama-hiko would be allowed to rule his own kind, but with Hachiman’s most trusted agent sharing this position, permission would be more forthcoming. The imminent battle with the Provinces would result in shame for Uzume because she was vastly outnumbered and stood no chance of success. She had been given a salvage force, one sent to retrieve a fictitious shipment of firearms that agents on Earth had sent into the vortex. As sometimes happened, the gateway between Pangaea and Earth had drifted and rather than dumping it in the heart of the Kami Empire, the cargo vessel had been deposited somewhere in the east. The Provinces had already retaliated against the recovery force once and killed a scout unit, and then their army had massacred a second wave. Now Uzume was moving in with what remained of her troops to reinforce the Wani who had dug in to protect her retreat. However, there was no shipment. It was all a lie to ensure Imperial indignation at the theft of material and the murder of its loyal soldiers, and therefore let Hachiman bring the full brunt of the Mitama and Wani against their long time foes.

Hachiman had orchestrated everything so he could feign outrage and expel her from his service for this defeat, thereby allowing her to be recruited without anyone suspecting his involvement, and even this was all part of a greater scheme.

The Wani would sustain significant losses on Earth. They were after all, a fanatic berserker force, one that could be ambushed or tricked into rash action by rebels and brigands. With the Wani removed from his control and therefore his responsibility, Warlord Hachiman would be spared the shame of their defeats.

When these defeats became too excruciating for the rest of the Empire to tolerate in silence, then the humiliated Lady Uzume would be forgiven by her old master and offered her former post at his side.

The only variable her master had not accounted for was whether Uzume could endure being separated from the man she adored for such a duration. As Kami, she was immortal and her flesh could defy the passing centuries, but she was unsure if her heart could do the same.

If she knew inside that she could not bear it, then her skills would ail and she would not leave the battlefield alive. If her sword arm and tactics were strong, then her heart would also have the fortitude to endure divorce from his side.

The sultry submissive concubine that was Candy had gone with her master, and clearly there were plans for the nubile captive from Earth. Hachiman had not enlightened her as to what they might be, but Candy definitely had a part in the coming epoch. To once more have Candy at her beck and call, bound before her and eager to please was another factor in Uzume’s desire to endure her detachment and return to her master, but it would also make the intermediate duration all the more harrowing.

There was of course Xiao, the trinket she had snatched when her initial foray into the mountains had stumbled upon a small mining village. Its destruction had been the catalyst to rouse the Provincial armies, and it had furnished Uzume with a cute feminine trophy.

The virginal girl was a delight to torment and degrade. She was untouched by the Houses that processed new slaves and made them more amiable to their lot as the playthings of the Gods, and Uzume was finding extreme satisfaction in warping the girl’s psyche all by herself. She would be trained to adore her kidnapper, and this long and ferocious process would help Uzume pass the time.

The mental image of what she would next inflict on her slave made her shiver lecherously. She smiled and drew her telescope from a saddlebag. Hoisting it to the armoured eyepieces of her grandiose helmet, she could see the hints of the Wani battalion in the extreme distance.

The Provincial forces still lurked in the mountains and were reforming after their initial defeat. A surprise Tyrannosaur charge into their flank had been an instrumental factor in routing them but they would be ready for this tactic now.

Uzume surmised that they might be waiting for the Imperial force to mount the offensive, thereby giving the Provinces the advantage of higher ground where her cavalry would have poor footing and their archers, trebuchet, cannon, and ballista could be used to maximum effect.

The Eastern Provinces were a loose alliance of various major settlements, all descended from continental Far East nationalities of Earth. Even though they were united in their hatred of the Kami Empire, it was unlikely that this unity would last. Petty squabbles amongst their leaders would soon start to crack the cohesion of their army and if Uzume kept her forces back, they could establish some defences and force the Provinces to emerge from the mountains and march on them before their own troops turned on each other. It would negate some of their advantages, diminish their strengths, and allow her to cause serious casualties before her own lines crumbled against their onslaught.

Lady Uzume lowered her telescope and grinned privately. She was eager to immerse herself in the sanguinary heat of battle. Despite the physical aspects of training a slave, there were a lot of psychological aspects to consider - tactics, contingencies, and plots. Sometimes the absolute honesty of life and death warfare was an oddly liberating diversion.

Chapter Four

Candy tensed her arms and felt the rope tighten to her body. The bright blue coils had been woven onto her torso, capturing her arms behind her with forearms pressed together and held in a single horizontal line. The diamond pattern she so often encountered when bound by the Kami ran down her front and her spine, creating a cocoon that pressed in on her from all directions and wrung her breasts between two lines. A pair of lengths rushed down from the last of the harness, emerging at her hips before they tugged into her inner thighs and rose over her buttocks to snag the weave on the other side.

It had been a swift relocation to this room. Hirata had unfastened her and ordered her out of the Jacuzzi. She had obeyed the Mikado with stolid movements and no resistance. Her grief at losing her master was still ruling her and she just didn’t have any strength left to try and rebel, complain, or do anything but mindlessly accept her lot. She couldn’t even focus on what had been said about a new arrival, or what this ‘great plane’ might be and what its significance was. She just didn’t care anymore.

With eyes lowered, she had followed him to a simple chamber where smooth stone walls bore some small lamps and a series of lacquered cabinets and an ornate low table in the middle of the room. Several mirrored doors led into other rooms and allowed her to see herself being bound from every angle, and despite her melancholy attitude, the process had not been an unwelcome one. The rope was soft and sensuous, and the hands of the Mikado were gentle and caring as he slowly created an intricate masterpiece of bondage upon his prisoner.

Ordinarily, she would have found her predicament exciting. To be handed over to another like a toy, especially as a reward for exemplary service, it made her feel important while also impressing upon her how owned she was. Nevertheless, all she could think of was Hachiman. She couldn’t even concentrate on forming her own plots. She knew that she had her own means, her own skills that she could use to affect her fate. With time, patience, and skill at manipulation, she could find a path back to her beloved owner, but right now she was in mourning and every attempt to try and craft a stratagem just ended with miserable pining about Hachiman.

The Mikado shed his robe and grabbed the ropes that ran above and below her breasts. Closing his hand, he made the coils tighten into her already swollen assets and then he towed her towards the table. She stepped up onto the smooth surface and was steered into the middle before he let go and settled back. Candy stood to attention as the Mikado sat down crossed legged and looked up at her.

‘You miss him, don’t you, slave?’ asked Hirata.

‘Yes, master,’ she stated without consideration.

Hirata smiled and clapped his hands. One of the doors opened and two women strode in. The twins were gorgeous and slender. They wore their hair short, spiky, and dyed a vibrant blue that matched their makeup which included sapphire lipstick for both their full luscious lips as well as thier ringed nipples. A collar embraced their throats and the towering posture device was crafted from purple patent leather with a single large ring set at the front. Blue tinted stockings flowed up their long legs and a mauve suspender belt kept them in place. Each strode upon knee high patent boots of an identical shade to their collars. The high-heeled boots had a zip at the side over which ran a number of buckles. Each woman carried a small wooden tray and as they knelt down on either side of the Mikado, they started to present him with his meal. Small bowls were arranged before him and with eyes still fixed on Candy, he started to eat.

‘I’m not surprised. Hachiman has a powerful presence, and a flawless reputation...in all things.’

Candy swallowed and felt fresh tears well in her eyes. Her lips trembled and her stomach seemed to drop away. She sniffled slightly and fought back the need to weep.

‘You blame Toyo-tama-hiko?’ he enquired gently.

‘I...I don’t think so,’ she stammered.

‘So who is responsible for your desolation?’

‘I don’t know,’ she said flatly, deliberately forsaking his title with view to irking him. She was not in the mood for conversation. If the Mikado wanted to torture her, beat her, or ravish her, then she hoped that he would just hurry up and get on with it. The prospect of some physical pain was a welcome one because it would distract her from her psychological wounds.

‘Come now, slave. Surely you have some idea why this is happening?’ he crooned.

‘A stupid secret. That’s all,’ she grumbled.

‘Petulant,’ commented Hirata. ‘But I forgive you. It is unfortunate that such a thing has befallen you, but we are all here to serve the Kami. Our own pleasures and wishes must sometimes be forsaken so they may have what they want.’

He helped himself to some noodles, washed them down with a sip of water, and then continued to address her.

‘Don’t you agree, slave?’

‘No,’ she retorted boldly.

‘The Empire has endured - unchanged - for thousands of years. The Kami have ensured our prosperity and longevity with their skill and dedication. Our lives have the duration of a finger snap when compared to theirs, and carry just as much significance. The Kami have greater obligations and duties than any mortal can fathom, so why should the infatuation of one slave successfully change their designs?’

‘I only know who I truly belong to.’

‘He may have your heart, but we have your flesh, and what you have to learn is that sometimes, that is more than enough.’

Hirata set down his chopsticks and lifted a small bowl. One of the women filled it and he indicated towards Candy. The twins arose together and stepped up onto the table on either side of her.

‘My Nakatomi have desires of their own and I advise you to enjoy them because I assure you, when you are transferred to House Uka no mitama there will be no more of these encounters.’

Candy turned her full attention to him but before she could speak, the woman to her left grabbed her chin and hauled her face around. Candy looked at the beautiful features of the woman and then met her cool hungry eyes. Her resistance melted and the woman’s lips stretched into an excited smile.

A sudden loud clap echoed in the room as the other female dropped her palm to Candy’s rear. The soft warm heat spread across her cheek and her hindquarters jolted forward into the arms of the other Nakatomi. The woman locked an arm around Candy as she bumped into her and pulled her head in to demand a kiss.

Candy parted her lips and let the woman run her organ along her lower lip before she sucked on it and then curled her tongue into Candy’s mouth. She tried to reciprocate, but could not match the woman’s obvious passion. The female gave a small snarl and grabbed the ropes at Candy’s cleavage before tugging on them to pull her closer and then she squeezed to make the ropes dig in. Candy’s mouth dropped open on a small moan and the woman dove back in to continue her feverish kiss.

‘Keira is having trouble. Maybe you should offer some encouragement, Kara,’ announced Hirata.

A pair of fingers slid under the harness at the small of her back and gave a brief yank to pull her rear out for attention. Kara then started to throw her other hand down into the presented cheeks. She slapped from side to side and sometimes threw the back of hand into Candy’s thighs. Keira hauled Candy in and fought for a more energetic response. She let go of her head and instead started to swirl her digits against Candy’s breasts. Her dextrous fingers danced upon her rings and made the tips stiffen in moments. When this still failed, she dropped her attentions and began to operate her clit ring. Prancing fingers flipped and stroked, swirled and pawed while her sister continued to swell Candy’s rear with a succulent internal heat. The skin started to tingle from the spanking and the occasional pinch to a rosy area made Candy mew.

‘Enjoy the feel of this slave, my Nakatomi. After this, she is destined to become a beast, a pet of the Kami. Your kisses will be the last ones she feels.’

A trio of stern slaps dropped onto her right cheek, making her legs wilt a little beneath her. In the aftermath of each slap, Keira gave her clit a brief pinch to make it course with sudden sensation. Bounced between the two assaults, her head began to swim with licentious glee.

A thought suddenly rushed into Candy’s brain. If she were indeed as important to her master as had been implied, she had no cause for worry. If Hachiman truly wanted her, then he would have to fight for her. He had recklessly loaned her out and she had been stolen. If he could recover her, then no doubt he would have learned his lesson and not underestimate the desire of others to keep her or steal her from him. She was shedding tears and suffering because of Hachiman’s foolhardy loaning. Here she was, being overwhelmed by delicious feminine kisses, caresses, and spanks, and all she was doing was moping about her former owner.

Candy vowed to disregard her affections for Hachiman. She was owned by the Houses of Water, and would soon be entering the service of other Houses. It was time to revel in and devote herself to these new roles, to suck every moment of joy from her subjugation. Perhaps her master would find her and if so she would welcome him with delight, but if not, well then she was better off without him and his fleeting attentions. If Hachiman never appeared before her again, it meant that all of his talk and promises had been a lie, a joke to torment her, and she was not going to waste another tear on him.

Candy’s passion suddenly reared and she started to kiss back with greater verve. She was a submissive creature, one who would take pleasures however she could. It was time to stop brooding on what was lost and time to start having some fun.

She thrust out her rear and rose to tiptoe to offer the best target she could. Her chest reached up and traced her hardened nipples against the breasts of Keira as her tongue swirled around and nuzzled against the woman’s own eager organ.

The hand on her pussy came away and the woman embraced her. With her arms stretched out and leaning on Candy’s shoulders, the woman devoted herself to libidinous kisses while her sister continued to deliver her stinging palm into Candy’s rear and thighs. Each slap made Candy sway and luxuriate in the warmth that was spreading through her skin.

‘Yes, that’s much better,’ attested Hirata, and returned to his dinner while watching the provocative show.

With her eyes half closed, Candy continued to devote herself to enjoying Keira’s expert oral attention and she fuelled her lust with every slap that met her bottom. When Hirata had finally finished his meal, he leaned back and decided to let his performers finish.

‘Take her,’ he uttered forcefully.

Candy was pliant against their hands as Keira pushed down on her shoulders while Kara ducked down and gave a brief pull on her knees to make her legs fold. As Candy sank down, Kara dropped onto the table and flipped over. She reached up, grabbed the outside of Candy’s thighs and pulled her loins down onto her face. Candy arched and gave a gasp as a spry tongue rushed along her lips and then cavorted against her clit. The tip poured into the ring and slid back and forth, stretching the rampant morsel with every surge.

Kara stepped forward and made use of Candy’s agape jaws. Sinking one hand into the back of her hair, she clenched and used this smarting anchor to pull Candy into her own humid sex. Candy responded with jubilation and thrust her own tongue deep into Keira before lapping upward and pouring the full flat of her wet length against the female. Candy continued with a slow and measured rate, lapping diligently while the woman held tight to her hair and let her other hand roll across her torso and tease her own skin. The hand circled breasts, toyed with rings, and stretched up and down the full length of her chest while her head rolled back and she panted with delight.

When Kara’s diligent tongue escorted Candy into orgasm, she gripped tightly and held on so that her target could not escape. Jolting against the brutal pleasure, Candy’s own affections became more haphazard, a failing that acquired a few slaps to her cheeks to encourage a more precise rhythm. Fighting to concentrate as Kara suckled on her clit and rushed her tongue around her pussy, Candy tried to pull away, but the woman just held on and made sure she kept her face buried between Candy’s thighs.

Keira’s breathing deepened and she started to squeak with rapture. Candy thrashed her organ as skilfully as she could, dancing her tip to the woman in a final effort. As Keira squealed with rhapsody, Kara continued to assail Candy and make it even harder for her to continue. Only when her sister pushed Candy away did the other concubine release her hold and drop back to the table.

Kneeling and gasping for breath, Candy watched as the two women stepped from the surface and gathered up the plates. Hirata kept his eyes on her and then shuffled back a little. His cock jumped up from beneath the table.

A Mikado had once again been instrumental in shaping her desires, and her gratitude to Hirata for banishing her torpor was great. Candy lowered herself onto her front and slowly slithered across the table top towards him. Hirata just smiled and leaned back to prop himself up on with his arms.

The Mikado said nothing as she craned her neck off the edge and devoured his manhood. Her tongue was a little raw from all the activity, but her lips and neck were ready for action. Still raging with lust, she locked her maw to him and began a slow and methodical fellatio. Savouring every moment, she strained against her rope bondage to feel it shift against her and she pumped her head up and down, taking him as deeply as she could. It was a testament to the skill of their show that his arousal from it quickly brought him to climax. He barked with joy and his fingers clawed at the ground as he shuddered and filled her palate with the taste of him. Candy consumed with abandon and quaked on the tabletop.

‘I wish to retire. Secure her here and let her think on what her future holds,’ he stated and moved back, pulling himself from her clamped lips.

The sound of heels clicking on stone moved closer and the sisters grabbed Candy’s ankles. A few loops of rope embraced each joint and her legs were stretched out, spread wide, and tied to table legs.

Hirata stood up and the women closed in to thread rope through the coils on Candy’s shoulders and stretch more lengths out to the other corners, pinning her down and leaving her head draping from the end.

He ran his fingers through hair and then marched from the room with the Nakatomi in tow. A moment later the lamps dimmed slightly to leave her pale skin glowing slightly in the remaining twilight.

Chapter Five

Candy spent a restless night spread and tied to the table. Her insomnia was not inspired by the pose, her nakedness, or the slight chill in the air, but it was from the sheer mystery of her fate. Every time she started to worry, she snarled and fought away such negative emotions, focusing instead on dreams of submission to new masters.

The eerie world of the Water Kami was a timeless void where night and day did not exist, so although every minute seemed like hours, when a door opened and someone started to enter, the banal duration suddenly seemed as though she had only been deserted a short time ago.

Candy turned her head around and saw Kara sauntering towards her. The woman wore only a pair of mesh tights and a set of leg hugging leather thighboots. Wrapped around her hindquarters was more leather and from a triangular panel at the crotch sprouted a bright blue dildo. Kara set a tube and another device down by Candy’s hip and stepped out before her. She stamped a heeled foot down by Candy’s head, hooking the instep on the edge of the table.

‘Lick!’ she snapped.

Candy cocked her head and started to pour her tongue against the warm hide and felt a distinct tremor run through it as the woman enjoyed her power over her.

‘Mmmm, I just couldn’t sleep with the thought of this supple body splayed across the table. I just had to get up and fuck it,’ she crooned.

Kara crouched down in front of her, grabbed the artificial cock at the root and jerked the head up towards Candy’s face.

‘Suck it,’ she hissed. ‘Suck it like you took my master’s cock.’

Candy opened her lips and the woman thrust her pelvis up to have the toy stampede into her maw. Her eyes bulged and she gagged a little. When she tried to pull away, Kara grabbed the back of her head in both hands and held firm.

‘No you don’t!’ she warned and lifted her hips higher. Candy watched the leather on her thighs ripple with the play of muscles as Kara swayed and while holding firm, began to ravish Candy’s mouth. With lips locked to the smooth rubber toy, she caught the scent of the Nakatomi’s wanton arousal and this inspired her own libido.

‘Yes, that’s it. Let me fuck your face!’ growled Kara and her loins jumped up and down as her fingers pawed at the back of Candy’s head.

Suddenly she let go and stepped up onto the table. After prancing over Candy’s bound form, she knelt down between her thighs and took up what she had been carrying when she had first entered.

In the dim reflection of a door, Candy saw her unravel wire from around a small silvery egg that she promptly stuffed down behind the crotch plate of her harness. The end of the coil bore a small plastic control with a dial, and when she spun this, a steady hum emerged from the smothered egg.

‘Oooooh, yes,’ moaned Kara, and after tucking the control into a small sheath at her hip, she grabbed the tube of lubricant, held it over Candy’s rear, and squeezed. The viscous gel dripped down from above, spattering her opening and chilling the skin. Kara giggled as she saw the opening clench.

‘Oh don’t fret, slave. I’ll be warming up that little hole soon enough.’

Kara dropped a hand into Candy’s back to prop herself up and snatched the dildo with the other. She steered it into place and swirled the head against her target. Candy mewed and tried to relax so as to permit easier entry.

The woman remained poised and snatched Candy’s hair. She hauled her head up whereupon the other palm clapped over her lips and held tight. With a sadistic thrust the toy opened her and rushed deep. Candy shrieked against the smothering hand and broke into spasms. Her anus reacted with searing animosity to the trespass but Kara just laughed and jiggled her hips to churn the fully sheathed toy within her.

‘Yes, that’s it, slave! Suffer!’ she purred and jumped back so that the toy departed in full before she stabbed back in again. The second entry was a little easier and when she pressed up against Candy’s rear, she could feel the tiny vibrations of the egg through the leather and in the toy itself.

Kara started to slowly draw away and then rushed in with more celerity, and as Candy grew used to the invasion, the hand at her mouth came away and instead held tightly to her flank. The hand in her hair remained, and Kara took delight in delivering small pulls to hoist Candy’s head and make her jaw drop open. Generally this came with a thrust of the dildo, and her croak of answer came all the easier.

The burning pain gave way to a luxurious heat that ran through her rear and filled her stretched tracts. The slither and slide of the toy as it drilled deep into her body made Candy moan with licentious joy and the momentary tremble when she felt the egg lean to her made her envy Kara’s intimate companionship with it.

‘I enjoyed spanking this cute butt, but now I get to have some real fun with it,’ hissed Kara and remained deeply impaled so she could again squirm her pelvis and churn the toy.

‘Oh thank you!’ uttered Candy and gave a squeak as the woman yanked sharply on her hair.

‘Mistress!’ snarled Kara.

‘Yes, mistress, I’m sorry, mistress,’ she stammered as the toy nudged deeper and pushed to the limits of what she could accept.

‘That’s better. I can see that your imminent devolution will be advantageous,’ muttered Kara and then pulled on her hair again before she spoke with harsh tones, ‘It’ll keep this disobedient mouth shut for good!’

‘I’m sorry, mistress. I’ll be quiet,’ she croaked.

Kara cast her disdainfully away and held to her sides with both hands.

‘Oh speak if you want. You’ll not have that option for much longer.’

‘Mistress, I don’t want to be a pet!’ sobbed Candy, struggling against her ropes as she was reminded that her time was running out and that her transfer to another House was imminent. She may well have been resigned to it, but was still scared.

‘Pet? My you’ve got a high opinion of yourself, don’t you? You’ll be an animal. A creature kept contained and servile. It’ll take you a lot of hard work, commitment, and time before you can work your way up to such a vaulted position as that of mere pet,’ said Kara and continued her ravishment with fresh gusto.

‘Mistress! This isn’t fair!’ gasped Candy as her body was surged forward with every drastic thrust.

‘You’re damn right it isn’t. How did you get to be so lucky?’ growled the woman. ‘Lift your head up and look round.’

‘I...I don’t understand, mistress,’ muttered Candy as she obeyed the order.

Kara curled an arm up and around and delivered a backhand slap to Candy’s cheek. The stern slap made her cheek swell with sorrow and the impact threw her head back down. She sobbed and let her head just dangle from the edge as the side of her face throbbed.

‘Other side, slave.’

‘No, please, mistress. Don’t!’ she exclaimed, shaking her head in denial while keeping it down. Kara slammed with venom, pushing deep and making Candy whimper from accepting the length.

‘Other side! Now do it!’

With a meek turn, Candy presented the target and closed her eyes. The slap struck home and dropped her face back down whereupon she wept softly.

‘Much better. Now, shall I tell you why you are so fortunate, slave?’

‘Y...yes, please, mistress,’ she uttered drearily.

‘You are going to explore the pleasures of a completely alien House, and you are going to do so yet again. I was born into service of the Houses of Water. I adore my master, and Toyo-tama-hiko. I am loyal unto death and beyond to the Kami, but oh, to be able to see what else lies beyond this aquatic domain,’ said Kara and gave a long wanton groan as her voice and body quavered at the mere thought.

‘You have tasted the rapture in the palace of Warlord Hachiman. You have been with the Wani daughters, and with Lady Uzume. You have been with the Warlords of Water, and Oho-tashi. And now...’

Her words ended as she panted and started to succumb to orgasm. The raging egg and her own lustful fantasies were proving too much to deny and Kara launched the toy into Candy as she continued to speak in fits and starts.

‘...now you get to be a slave in new and unexplored ways. Facets I have only dreamed of, and yet you curse this exemplary fortune.’

The woman gave a spasm and eased the dildo back until it came free of her bottom.

‘Cheek. Now!’

Candy jerked her features up into view and yearned for her chastisement. The slap was stronger this time, inspired by anger at Candy’s resentment of what Kara regarded as a triumphant reward.

‘What will they do to you, slave? What animal will you become? Who will use you? How will they use you? Will you get to come? Or will you be kept chaste? Oh, imagine it - desperate for relief, charged with arousal that you cannot satisfy. Mmmmm, I would give anything to endure your fate. You are embroiled in a game of the Gods. Failure will have me demoted or sent to Yomi, but you, you can act however you wish. You are probably the most free being in the whole Empire!’

Kara’s rate started to become corrupted as flashes of bliss made her jolt and stall her molestation. Candy felt the toy fire into her and then wait before jumping back and repeating its assault. Kara threw her head back and gave an ecstatic squeal. Her thighs clamped together and her body juddered as the egg raged against her pussy. When she had sated her desires in full, she flung herself back and fumbled for the control to end the stimulation.

Sprawled between Candy’s legs, she gathered herself and once her breath was steady, she stood up.

Candy gave a whimper when a heel leaned into her rear and pushed down into the flesh. A turn brought more distress to the skin.

‘Ungrateful little bitch.’

Kara gave another sharp prod that made Candy squawk and then with a derisive huff she stomped from the chamber and slammed the door in her wake. Candy closed her eyes and let her head hang limp as she embraced the feel of the throbbing ache in her bottom.

Chapter Six

Lady Uzume heard the sharp brittle rattle of arrows striking the armour of her steed and felt several projectiles bounce harmlessly from her shoulder plates. The great beast gave a screeching roar of irritation as several of them bit between joints and sank into its dense hide. A moment later, she was in the hectic fray.

The Wani fought on with consummate skill and unbridled fury, striking down a human soldier with every hack of their massive swords and pole arms. The crack of firearms was now a sporadic sound with most magazines having been emptied in the seconds before the two armies clashed. The terrible swathe that the Imperials had gouged into the enemy ranks with their automatic fire had quickly been filled by the overwhelming numbers gathered by the Eastern Provinces. After having feared the Empire for so long, every man who could hold a weapon was anxious to exorcise this loathing in one bloody orgy. Thinking this to be the full measure of Imperial might, they thought victory over the ancient enemy was at hand, little realising that this was a tiny fraction of what the Kami could bring to bear.

Tiny forms crumpled under the massive feet of her steed as it stomped into a flanking regiment. The Wani were occupied with the main line, and the Mitama Megalosaur cavalry were intercepting other flanking units while skirmishers to pierce the line and reach either the command group, or the war machines. The Imperial line was ailing, and so she had personally led the Tyrannosaurs into combat.

Uzume dug the butt of her assault rifle into her shoulder and opened fire with wanton spray. Spent cartridges danced across the saddle as her mount’s maw dove down and snatched up clusters of enemy troops that it shredded with several grinding bites. The beast danced on the foe and was immediately joined by its brethren. The regiment unfortunate enough to be underfoot promptly broke.

With titanic armoured carnivores prancing on their number and eating them whole while the riders brutalised them with machine gun fire had proven too much for the eager unit and they were suddenly fleeing for their lives. A great roar went up as Wani acknowledged the prevention of the flank attack and gave praise to Uzume for her intervention. With a Kami in their midst and fighting with them, the savagery of the Wani visibly increased and even the most grievous wounds failed to slow them now.

Lady Uzume instantly dropped her rifle and let it dangle as she grabbed the reigns in both hands and hauled as hard as she could. The Tyrannosaur was already moving after the routed troops and she had to stop it. With bestial instincts at large, the steed took great effort to bring round and steer back towards the main fight. The enemy was gone and the elite riders were now totally exposed. Already the whistle of clouds of arrows was rising to deafening volumes.

With head held low, her steed rushed towards where the Wani were continuing to sell every life as dearly as they could. A deep humming roar disturbed the air and a massive projectile missed her by a few feet. The gigantic spear thudded into the chest of a Tyrannosaur, one that was more stubborn in its pursuit of the routed foe. The creature gave a pained squawk as it was thrown to the ground, crushing a dozen fleeing soldiers with its final act. It tried to get up, not realising yet that its heart was pierced and it was in fact already dead. Its rider was up in seconds and rushing for the fight, only to be cut down by the deluge of arrows raining down on the area.

Uzume hauled to the right and redirected her mount at the culprit. The bolt thrower had been brought forward from the rear along with three others that were readying to fire. The first one exploded into splinters when her mount dipped its snout and rammed its armour plated skull into the side of the ballista. The second and third war machines crumpled under foot, but the fourth turned at the last moment and fired. Lady Uzume wrenched at the reigns to try and dodge the spear but at point blank she had little chance of success. Denied its binge meal, the Tyrannosaur was already anticipating eating this target, heedless of its inedible status.

The ten foot spear plunged into the agape maw of the steed and punched straight through. The serrated point exploded from the back of its head and grazed Uzume’s shoulder as its velocity allowed it to drill straight through armour, flesh, and bone.

The mortal trauma took valuable moments to be acknowledged, by which time the weapon was already being wrenched apart by its monstrous jaws. Uzume slipped a tanto from her belt and cut the straps of her safety harness. She didn’t have time to fumble with buckles, her steed was seconds from collapse.

Leaping from the saddle as her mount started to sag, she landed heavily and a storm of pain rolled up her legs as they supported the full weight of both her landing and her dense armour. A member of the ballista crew charged her with an axe. She flipped the tanto to its point and hurled the small blade into his throat before hoisting her firearm.

Uzume realised the jeopardy she was in but could not succumb to fear. She was distanced from her own forces. Her elite riders could not interfere lest they risk crushing her, and now a wave of screaming enraged enemy troops was coming straight for her. These troops had been deployed behind the war machines to allow the devices an open field of fire but they now streamed over the wreckage to seek the rider responsible for such destruction. The other Tyrannosaur were now spared the lethal projectiles and were again wreaking havoc on the enemy as arrow, bolt, and hand held weapon bounced harmlessly off their armour or opened inconsequential wounds. Without heavy firepower, this process of attrition would take hours to kill them.

The rifle jumped in her grip and pummelled her shoulder as she leaned into the weapon and applied careful bursts into the approaching mob. The double drum magazine ran empty and without pause she released it and drew her katana.

With all the cold skill of her birthright, Uzume met the foe without remorse or concern. The shimmering blade flowed like a living tentacle and wove through armour, around shield, and about weapon to pierce heart or take head. Hot crimson saturated her armour and ran down her in steady lines as she continued to hold her ground and weave amidst truculent hacks and sanguinary swipes.

Her foe was mere militia, peasants with token training in holding a blade and in marching in formation. Against a centuries old battle goddess trained for decades in the art form of total war, they stood little chance. However, Uzume was still only one warrior, and although she did not age, she could still tire and be killed.

Dozens were dead but her arms now felt like lead and it was becoming harder to ignore the weight of her armour and evade the enemy. Stern impacts affected her balance and bruised her flesh but still she would not relent. Facing certain death, she did not regret her actions. Hachiman wanted war with the Provinces and Uzume was pledged to this, even if it meant transgressing his will and perishing in the process. The defeat of an expedition force might not be enough to promote war, especially with conflict with Earth looming. The death of Masuda, the destruction of the force, and perhaps even her own death were certain to see the Provinces razed.

Uzume sheathed her blade in an enemy chest as he readied to stab at her side. A flash of light caught the edge of her vision and she glanced to see a claymore coming down on an overhead arc. She was too exhausted to leap away and the massive blade slammed down into her chest. The already much pummelled ceramic plates fractured and the impetus of the blow threw her down and to the ground. The wind vanished from her lungs and the grip on her sword was lost to leave the heirloom lodged in an enemy casualty.

Landing on her back, Uzume’s wakisashi appeared in her hand and skimmed along the ground to take feet off at the ankles. In the momentary lull she fought to rise only to have a warhammer catch the side of her helm. A pulse of white rushed across her eyes and she was thrown aside. A trio of brutal blows assailed her back, trying to get through her armour and then a fourth snagged her shoulder and spun her over.

Supine and with senses reeling, she watched another claymore rise up in paired hands and ready to drop its point into her heart. The integrity of her armour was gone and she couldn’t even roll in her current dazed state.

The point wavered in the air and then dropped to land beside her as a Megalosaur snatched up the bearer and barged onwards to scatter the soldiers. Three Mitama leapt from the saddle and landed around her to hurl their weapons into the mob and then beat them back. A forth Mitama grabbed her and helped her to her feet. With a submachine gun in his other hand, he sprayed freely into the nearest enemy forces.

‘You have to retreat, Lady Uzume!’ he bellowed as the din of steel landing on steel and ripping of flesh joined roars and screams of pain and fury.

‘Never!’ she hissed.

The warrior ejected a spend clip, slapped in a new one, and continued to hold back the enemy as his comrades used their swords to assist him.

‘The Empire must be told of this threat. You are the only one who can relay the message and not have it dismissed. You are Kami!’ he implored.

‘Your name will be honoured, and this defeat will be avenged a thousand fold,’ she snarled and offered him a small bow.

Rewarded beyond measure by this act of reverence from his deity, the soldier jerked round as his weapon ran out of ammunition. His eyes flashed with joy and he threw down the spend firearm before drawing his sword.

‘I conquer!’ he roared, and charged towards the battle line.

Elated and filled with purpose, he ploughed into the battle as a berserk whirlwind of destruction.

Lady Uzume shook off her weakness and clambered into the saddle of the nearby mount. The rescue party had given her a route out and as she kicked the steed into a full gallop, a pair of Tyrannosaurs fell in behind her. Their vast backs gave her a shelter from enemy fire and she could already hear the dizzying rattle as clouds of arrows pelted their backs. The Provincial army had seen who she was and were desperate to bring her down, but in seconds she was out of their range.

The protecting riders instantly turned their mounts and thundered back into the fight, intending to hold the army as long as possible.

The adrenaline of battle was starting to fade and the extent of her injuries and fatigue were making themselves known. Uzume stiffly reapplied the saddle harness and hoped that if she lost consciousness, the steed was well trained enough to make it back to the supply line on its own.

Chapter Seven

With her rear hot from its invasion and her cheeks raw from punishment, Candy relaxed into the ropes and breathed softly. Kara’s words had inspired her, and now she was mulling over what had been said. Another uncertain duration trailed lazily passed until the lamps increased in potency and a door opened to allow people entry.

The sisters were still dressed as before and again they carried trays that they set aside. She was freed and brought back up onto her knees, whereupon they skilfully removed the full harness. Candy swayed as the tight clinch of the rope vanished and offered small purls of delight when she was pushed back down onto her front.

Lying along one side of the table, the women then began to arrange food upon her back. The small packages were warm on her skin and she remained as still as she could to let the women work. Once the array was completed, they knelt back in their former positions to await the arrival of the Mikado.

Hirata entered at a casual rate and yawned. He stretched, slid up to the table, and accepted chopsticks. As though she were any other inanimate object he began to pick items from Candy and devour them, occasionally offering one to Kara or Keira who accepted it with hands clasping to their thighs.

The odd affair was a definite pleasure. There was something so sensual about feeling the slight slip of a piece as it moved against her skin and then vanished, leaving behind a fleeting area of warmth. A small measure of hot fluid was tipped into the small of her back, making her arch her chest with a gasp of shock. The pose helped hold the small reservoir in place and Hirata dipped items into the sauce while Candy felt the heat siphoning into her skin. A piece moved up by shoulder blade and fled and when she sagged a little, a brief trickle escaped the well and ran towards her hip. The succulent feel of the hot line traversing her flank made her mewl softly. Hirata acted quickly, snatched a new morsel, and caught the stream before it dropped onto the table. With small swirls he mopped up the spill and carried the roll back up to the sauce before eating it.

When breakfast was completed, a cloth was run down her back and the Mikado gave a contended sigh.

‘You were a delight, slave, but it is time to deliver you back to my master,’ he said and there was a small hint of regret in his voice. ‘Nakatomi. Bring her.’

Candy was hoisted back to her feet and with the women holding her hands, she was brought behind Hirata and back into the labyrinthine tunnels. It was a fairly long walk, but she was glad of the exercise after her long captivity.

A robed priest pulled open a heavy door and she was brought into a dark room. The inadequate lighting revealed hints of furniture and other items, but concealed the true purpose of the room from her. Candy was delivered into the middle and a spotlight came on.

Kara and Keira retreated to stand in the gloom behind Hirata as he loitered in the periphery of the spotlight and new figures emerged from the darkness. The Imbe were threatening apparitions with leather masks that depicted fearsome demonic countenances. The snarling black skin was adorned with small horns and extended as hoods down to their shoulders where a cross-shaped harness emphasised their brawny chests.

The Imbe stepped to a metal strut that descended from the ceiling and stopped at shoulder height whereupon it spread out into a horizontal crosspiece. The smooth rounded steel had several thick straps already riveted into place as did the lower area of the supporting beam. Set out under the shadow of the crosspiece were thick fetters with steel cable attached to them. The cable sprawled on the floor and entered two stern winches a short distance away.

Candy was turned around and pushed back against the item. The cool metal calmed her skin and her arms were lifted up and set to the pole. Straps were drawn over her wrists, above and below her elbows and a final set hugged her upper biceps. The belts were hauled tight so that they drew her ferociously to the steel. Another strap was established across her forehead and it was yanked back to pin the back of her head against the metal. Another strap was grabbed and brought over her mouth where a stout phallus was already established upon it.

Upon seeing the broad dimensions of the toy, Candy tried to move her head aside but the belt across her forehead greatly hampered her motions.

‘Wait, don’t, I...’

Hands grabbed her ankles and pulled outward a moment before fingers sank into her cheeks and squeezed until with a groan of protest she was forced to open up and let the toy in. The rounded head nudged her teeth apart and started to push harder. The slick, slightly pliant material stretched her jaws wider and wider until she had formed a rictus that brought them to the verge of dislocation.

The tightening of the oral belt caused the leather to dig into the sides of her mouth and the bloated dildo gag to brush the back of her throat. She jerked but could not defeat the holds on her legs as she kicked and struggled to break free. The belt was pulled in another notch and the gag voyaged deeper to make her retch and gurgle.

The fetters were abruptly buckled into place and the winches were manned a moment later. The handles were cranked round and round and the spool quickly gobbled up the slack. Her soles slid against the floor and then left the ground as her legs were stretched apart. Her body weight fell onto the supporting restraints and Candy gave a croaking whimper against the stifling phallic gag.

Almost choking on the oral intruder, she thrashed against the impossible impositions on her body. The winches clicked on another notch and her legs were drawn even tighter. Tendons and muscles throbbed with distress and another click of the winches made her joints thunder with internal mayhem.

The snap of latex gloves being dragged into place and then released caught her ears and she felt hands pulling her buttocks apart. A pair of fingers stole entry as the lubricant that covered them assisted swift access. Candy cried out and fought to flex and expel them as the cool gel was worked into her anus. She knew this was a precursor to defilement and the brutality with which she had been secured suggested it would not be an easy intrusion to take. The slithering fingers jumped in and worked the lubricant around before they fled, having encountered no trouble against her attempts to resist.

A rigid strut touched her rear and started to slip into place. Candy fought to wriggle and deny it a target but her stretched legs allowed her hips virtually no movement. The rigid tube reached her sphincter and began to pour into her. The size of the intruder was not as bad as she surmised but then some sort of wide flange met her opening. The disc was slightly malleable, but was still of a dimension that she could not easily accept. The Imbe pivoted the device and started to push it into her until she cried out from the stress.

The disc slipped back and she was allowed a moment to recover before they again solicited entry. Candy tried to relax but it was not easy because the Imbe were working with little patience. She was given only seconds between lessons in dilation and each time they pushed it until she gave a genuine howl. The Imbe were well versed in the tunes of a slave being processed here and were never once tricked by her faked squeals.

Wider and wider she was stretched until amidst her gurgling holler the disc slipped through and popped into place. She thrashed against the straps as her insides reviled the sudden distending presence. Her sphincter had been acclimatised to the flange but her tracts had not. She strained desperately to try and force it out and ease her misery as she felt the pipe reaching into her body and the great circular plug inside her. The security of this dam was further enforced when a matching disc on the outside was pushed into place. Fingers dug into her buttocks and drew her open so that the second disc could be pushed in as tightly as possible.

With her orifice now crushed between two brutal flanges, there was no way for her to defy the introduction of anything into her body.

Another device was brought forth, and at first it appeared to be some sort of strap-on harness save that this item was destined to fit the other way round. The phallus that they inserted into her was peppered with holes and stemmed from an overlarge base in which she could see valves and other considerations to allow technology to control and tend her in her captivity.

Candy groaned as the long wide trespasser rushed into her, choking her pussy until the base pressed against her. A small key was taken up and slipped into place before she felt it closing a pair of metallic clamps. The two fanged pincers grabbed her clit beneath her ring and squeezed until it was held firmly between them. The fleshy tunnel was coursing with sensation as the morsel sought to retreat back but the clamps kept it stretched and held tight between them. The straps were then set around the tips of her thighs, over her hips, and around her waist to ensure that this item was kept irrevocably in place.

Two metal soles were gathered and brought to her feet. Her toes were grabbed and her writhing feet delivered to the items. Each toe was slid into a small ratcheted metal band. These adjustable rings were then tightened until the root of each toe was held tightly in place. Straps were then set over her foot and a pair reached over her ankles before connecting back to the sole to keep the full measure of the metal plate pressed to her skin.

A pair of mittens was collected and the tight leather gloves drawn onto her hands. With forceful motions they steered her fingers into the individual interior sleeves and consequently onto the ranks of wicked barbs awaiting them. Even the slightest movement of her fingers was now going to be punished by them. The Imbe then opened her wrist straps and each glove was buckled into place so she could not shed it.

The true nature of her predicament was then revealed to Candy when she saw the manner in which she was to be transported.

The close fibreglass sarcophagus was moulded to perfectly fit her contours and keep her held in a ridiculously tight stem. Clasps along the sides were already open and two of the men separated the coffin into two halves.

Candy screamed and struggled afresh as she bore witness to her new home. A terrible sense of claustrophobia overcame her and she fought to get away from the approaching tomb with all her might.

The container was placed beneath her and the head portion lifted up behind her. Her feet were untied and her valiant fight to break free was ruthlessly countered by the brawny arms of the priests. Candy shrieked and continued to resist as they brought her legs together and slipped them inside. Sockets in the base met the bottom of her metal soles and locked into place, attaching her to her carrying case.

Interior belts were drawn up from between her legs and reached over before they were buckled to the interior walls and wrenched tighter. Brutal straps ran over ankle, above and below her knees, and across her thighs. She felt the anal tube snap into place against some sort of internal connection and then more belts encircled her waist, travelled below her breasts, and then another ran above them.

While one Imbe held her sarcophagus, the others unfastened her arms and pushed them down before a new series of belts inside the container replaced those that had been fixed to the bar.

Her head was untied and as she thrashed and fought madly to get away she was pushed into the accommodating slot before a belt was drawn over her forehead.

‘How goes her preparation,’ said Toyo-tama-hiko.

‘She is nearly complete, Warlord.’

The impassive features of the ruler appeared over her case. Candy thrashed as fiercely as she could but almost no motion was visible.

‘Enjoying yourself, Candy? Quite snug, isn’t it?’

‘Pleeeease, master. Don’t seal me in this thing. I’ll do anything you want! Anything!’

‘Well, Candy. It seems that Warlord Hachiman is seeking you quite diligently. In fact, one might say that he is being more than a little fanatical over one Kami-tsu-ko. What do you say to that?’ he asked coolly.

Candy closed her eyes and smiled as she realised that her master was actively seeking her.

‘Well?’ said Toyo-tama-hiko, adding more gravity this time.

‘I...I have pleased him, and...he...spent a great deal to purchase me, master,’ she said, hoping that if she could convince him of her worth then negotiations to have her returned would follow. The ferocity of her containment was already overwhelming her and the hope that she could be returned to Hachiman made it even more unendurable.

‘And yet he loaned you to me with such alacrity.’

‘Because of my worth to him it must have been a show of how much he values your alliance, master,’ she said. The hidden conversation she had seen between the two men had suggested that they were allies, and if she reminded Toyo-tama-hiko of this, he would be less likely to condemn his friend’s favoured concubine to this crushing hell.

‘And then you go and accidentally find my secret army? Quite a coincidence.’

‘I don’t...I...what do you mean, master?’

Candy could feel her world slipping through her fingers as she discerned what the Warlord suspected. Desperately she fought to find something to convince him otherwise.

‘Spy!’ he barked.

‘No! No I’m not!’

‘The only thing quicker than his lending of you to me was the speed with which you discovered my army. And at the one time they were visible. I am becoming more and more convinced that you are a spy for him. Is this so?’ he growled.

‘No, master, I swear. It was an accident. I wasn’t spying, I promise. Just let me return to my master. I’ll not tell him. You have my word.’

‘The word of a slave or the word of a spy. I find both unacceptable and this is too great a matter to trust to such a flimsy protestation. I can’t have one little concubine detract from all the glory that will bequeathed to my Water Wani when they are unveiled in combat.’

‘Please, oh please Warlord Toyo-tama-hiko. Please, spare me. I will never tell my master. Never ever! All I’ve ever wanted to do is serve.’

‘As I spy?’

‘No! No! I’m no spy!’ she cried and lurched against the straps. Her fingers were pricked by the spines and the coffin rattled on the floor from the savagery of her efforts to escape.

‘Well we’ll find out soon enough. Well, perhaps not soon, but eventually. This method has broken even the most recalcitrant of slaves, so I’m sure it will be adequate to coax the truth from your lips.’

A glass container was brought over. The metal base hummed softly to itself as tiny jets of water were pushed out against the inside walls to create a slow but steady whirlpool.

‘Wh...what the hell is that thing?’ she whispered in terror.

‘Hell is exactly what this is, slave. The creature in here is so delicate that should it even bump against the glass it would be destroyed.’

Candy’s heart began to race as possibilities of dreadful encounters with monsters sprung into her mind.

‘They are called Irukandji, and they are a form of box jellyfish.’

‘No! No! Don’t sting me! Pleeease!’ she wailed, fearing the horrible scars that such a beast would leave behind.

An Imbe lifted the lid as Toyo-tama-hiko looked inside and was handed a pair of pincers.

‘The individual stingers of a jellyfish are like tiny harpoons. They fire and unravel, and if you imagine that all the rope of the harpoon is covered in poison then you can see how they deliver their sting. This little fiend is different. The nematocysts of Irukandji are like syringes. They pierce and pour their poison out at the tip. And that venom is well...’

The Warlord snagged his prey and hoisted it from the container. Candy could barely see anything. Whatever it was, it was smaller even than the tip of her little finger.

‘I’ll ask you again, slave. Are you a spy?’ he asked gravely as he held the pincers over her.

‘I sweeear! I’m not! Oh God I’m not! Please believe me! Please!’

‘We are going to the great plane of Izanagi, Candy. A journey of several weeks. You will be transported in this container, and in here, you will know what torment is. I will ask you again when you emerge, and I am sure that when you do, your words will be honest.’

‘Nooooooooo!’ she roared as the pincers drew close.

Candy gave a croak as she felt a sharp sensation nip her breast. It was of little consequence and she almost felt like laughing because it was so trivial. After all of the Warlords threats, was that it? She had endured far more demonic pain from mere Kamube.

Toyo-tama-hiko carefully dropped the creature back in the container and it was taken away.

‘Not very painful is it, slave. Well the clock is ticking,’ he warned and turned to the other Imbe. ‘Continue.’

The tiniest touch to her breast had left a tingling presence but little else. Candy wondered if perhaps she had been exceedingly lucky and that the creature had been defective. Perhaps its poison was stunted, or it was already dead. However, now her attention was fixed on what was heading towards her. A moulded face mask was gathered up and brought over to her and she could see that the interior released three tubes. The two for her nostrils were fairly short, but the one beneath them was much longer. The end of the slightly corrugated item was snatched and she sucked in her lips to stop its application.

Again, fingers grabbed her helpless cheeks and her jaws were forced apart. Candy gave a cry of resignation as the Imbe acted with celerity. The tube plunged into her mouth and started to thread down her throat. Her eyes bulged and she lurched against her bonds as she felt the awful thing entering her body and bouncing her tracts on its ridges and trenches. The face mask continued to move towards her and the tubes entered her nostrils. Retching and gurgling, she was plunged into darkness as the item secured to the sides of the sarcophagus to keep her head pinned down and her body subjugated. Every part of her was now immobilised and her body was invaded by devices to sustain and nurture her in her terrible bondage.

The form-fitting lid was taken up and placed atop her. The clasps were set in place and Candy was left wheezing through her nose, pressed in on all sides with an irritating pain dwelling in her breast.

Her coffin was taken up and carried away, the Imbe becoming her pallbearers as she was no doubt being loaded up for the journey.

Lost in the void of her cell she dwelt on what else was going to be done to her, and after about half an hour she realised why this tactic was so good at breaking a slave. The sting had taken effect.

Excruciating muscle cramps started to thunder up and down her arms and legs and then rule her stomach muscles. She quivered and her world turned over and rolled from dizziness. She sweated and twitched, her skin and face feeling as though they were aflame from within. Every single particle of her body throbbed as though battered and bruised and the pain did not diminish, it just kept persevering and never for one instant did it fade in intensity.

Candy jolted against her prison as dazzling light thundered against her clenched eyelids and poured through them. As her sight cleared she saw that the container actually allowed her to see out. The face mask had glass lenses and the upper section of the container also had two glass panels. The caps had been removed and she could now see the face of the Warlord over her. He saw the tears in her eyes and the anguish written in them and simply smiled before he again disappeared out of her limited view.

Candy sobbed and writhed, the terrible pain of the sting coursing through her entire body. She could not believe that such a tiny beast could carry such a sting. It was ludicrous. The jellyfish could not even bump glass and survive, so why did it need venom of such potency?

Cursing nature and delirious from pain, Candy watched the cave ceilings passing by. The banality of the view was a terrible curse for it offered her absolutely no distraction from the impossible misery rushing through her physique.

An unknown duration elapsed as she was carried away and then she saw a great domed ceiling that revealed the ocean above them. The sound of the coffin being secured managed to filter through the dense walls and then she found her breathing becoming a little harder to acquire. It was clear that her nostril tubes had been attached to an oxygen tank and were providing her with breath while as she was shipped back to the surface world.

There was a brief hint of Toyo-tama-hiko walking passed in his diving armour and then the world dropped away. Water closed over her sight and she was thrust into the deep. The docks drifted overhead and suddenly she was streaking through the water at a ridiculous rate.

Candy realised that she was tied to the back of a Kronosaur and that the Warlord himself was taking her back to dry land.

The water realm streaked passed as she sobbed and prayed for the pain to end. In only a few minutes she started to see hints of the sun again and the glorious dazzling orb was a treat to her eyes. She could not believe just how much she had missed it.

The ocean broke over her eyepieces and her stomach sank as she was flung high into the sky. The great beast arched over after having launched from the waves and like a whale it crashed back against the water. The slam of her body against the insides of the sarcophagus went unnoticed because of her anguish, and as the monster started to swim away, she squinted to bear witness to a cloud speckled blue sky. The sound of waves hitting her prison created a steady drum roll as the great sea beast swam relentlessly towards the coast.

Gibbering from the ordeal, she later felt their rate slow and then she felt herself being unfastened. Unable to do anything save suffer and watch, she was carried away whereupon she saw the towering flanks of a dinosaur. A small crane grabbed her skin-tight cell and hoisted her up before she was drawn inside a luxurious howdah and strapped up against one wall.

The pipe in her throat suddenly swelled and stretched outward to fully choke her throat. It was then that she felt the pipe shiver as sustenance was pumped directly into her. The act of feeding had been taken away, and the machines connected to her would control her body and keep her alive as she suffered unspeakably in the hellish coffin.

Candy mewled and gurgled as she felt fluid being introduced into her rear. The forced enema continued to slither into her before it started to swell her tracts. She shuddered in her tight cell but even this pain was nothing compared to the choler of the sting. The automated systems pumped her up to a most distressing level and as she lay there, crying out against her confines, they slowly siphoned away the douche.

She was trussed and being controlled more than she ever thought possible. She was completely dependent on the mechanism and could do nothing to defy it. The Warlord has sealed her up alive and she would suffer until he deemed her worthy of freedom again.

Candy was distracted from her duress when a small group of gorgeous concubines sauntered in and began to take up positions throughout the carriage. Dressed in provocative lingerie, each was adorned with metal bands that caught wrist, ankle, upper arm, and thigh, and also enclosed their throats. All of the items had several D rings already fastened in place and the nylon and lace bore small and deliberate holes that allowed these rings to emerge.

Toyo-tama-hiko entered the howdah and appraised the area as the women doted on him with utter reverence. He gave Candy’s prison a minor glance and proceeded up into the higher floors.

Whimpering and screaming for deliverance, she continued to just loiter in her tight container and suffer for the amusement of her tormentor. No doubt the thought of her desperate situation was a significant source of arousal, and this was soon proved to her. The Warlord would often bring slaves and then restrain, punish, and pleasure them right before her, and many times he regarded her tear filled orbs through the tiny vents that accessed her stare.

As the great beast began to plod across the land and make for the central plains of the Empire, Candy became aware of the full diabolic powers of thus unholy form of transport.

A minor torment came from the random charges that wandered through the metal soles. The flashfloods of goading power left her skin riddled with an aggravated loathing. She would fight to screw up her toes and lift the soles away to ease her situation, but the bands and straps were too tight. It was a spiteful and annoying abuse, one that frustrated because of her inability to get rid of it. She fought on and tried to slip her toes free, but there was nothing she could do save endure the regular vexing assault that plagued her feet and added greatly to her ordeal. Nevertheless, these episodes of devilish maltreatment were soon replaced and almost went unnoticed when the true evil of the sarcophagus began.

Small electrical pulses were passed between the pincers that were currently holding her clit captive. They made the nubbin flex and continued to command it with steady and dedicated efforts. The whole length of the inserted dildo also began to tremble as machines at its base passed vibrations down the length. The pain of the sting was vaguely mitigated as she was pleasured but because of its scathing nature, it took some time for her to focus sufficiently on the bliss to begin an ascent towards climax. With her breath racing in and out of the nostril tubes, Candy began to quake against her bonds as the warm succulent joy of relief started to spread through her choked pudenda. She tried to flex and roll her belly and hindquarters but was far too comprehensively restrained to have any effect on the process. She could clench her pussy to smother and concentrate the feeling of the restless dildo, but that was all.

Candy gritted her teeth against the oral invader, closed her eyes, and stalled her breathing in expectation. The orgasm would be a delight to embrace because for just a moment, in those seconds of unbridled ecstasy, the pain of the Ikrudkanji sting would be eclipsed. Even a moment without it would be heaven.

Everything stopped.

Candy’s eyes jerked open and she flew into a panic as her pleasure hung at a steady level and refused to grow. The glorious explosion of rhapsody was just a few pulses away and the pain of the sting was already starting to erode it.

Screaming her hatred of this abuse, she tried to roll her tracts and grind herself up against the devices to earn those last few touches and swirls that would grant her relief. She filled her mind with every delicious fantasy she could, focusing on the most powerful moments with Lady Uzume and Warlord Hachiman, but no matter what she did, she was too tightly bound and couldn’t get anywhere near enough input to even maintain her current level. Relief started to slither away, retreating and leaving behind the constant cramping pains of the sting.

Candy soon learned that this was going to be the worst part of her ordeal. She would be teased to the very brink of release and was then deserted so she might feel it dissipate and remind her of just how potent the anguish of the sting was. By almost removing its power with the promise of orgasm, she was endlessly introduced to the agony. The process almost seemed to regenerate her virginity to an Irkundji sting, restoring it via teasing and denial.

As her absolute need for relief grew and grew, her dark rapture from this most brutal forms of containment and the endless misery of the sting found fresh fare. Her masochism started to germinate within her again, even though this was well beyond anything she had previously managed to find pleasure in. Every thwarted orgasm offered this monster within her more strength, allowing it to grow stronger and make her yearn to feel the terrible return to the unfettered power of the sting. The last moments before the machines cut off were now the most sought after because in those seconds she wailed against her coffin and readied to hurl aside orgasm and revel in the plunge back into pain.

Against such deviant sexual cravings, the machine was soon having trouble stopping her. Candy was now so aroused by her diabolic torment that she was getting closer and closer to orgasm. Every distraught flick and twitch of her pussy now served as another step up towards bliss.

Sodden with arousal, she squirmed and hollered, and the more she was teased, the slower orgasm withdrew. She would teeter on the verge now for long minutes, every tiny insignificant shuffle of her loins being more than enough to stimulate her hyper sensitive and long starved pussy. It was taking longer and longer for the sting to work its dreadful effects and erode her pleasure, but Candy was not the first fanatic masochist to have been fed to this sarcophagus and precautions were in place for a debauched creature such as she.

Her clitoris now felt as though it was aflame. Heated, roused, flushed with excitement, every tiny electrical flick of the prongs made her spasm and jolt against her bonds. Every shudder of the dildo made her squawk from the impossible levels of reaction it gained.

The ascent towards ever denied orgasm commenced as usual and she rocketed up towards it in her super-aroused state. The machines then stopped as they always did and Candy floated in a debauched haze of pleasure. Her flexing loins continued to waft her upwards and she could feel this long and lethargic climb into pleasure finally gaining success. There was nothing they could do to stop her. Climax would be hers and she had earned it all on her own. The devices they had locked onto and within her were body were powerless against her skills at absorbing pain and pleasure. By ferociously committing herself to her status as a sex slave, she could even overcome the malicious imagination and intentions of even the greatest Kami.

Ice cold water suddenly poured out of the holes in the dildo. The arctic geysers instantly stole all warmth from her pussy and swelled it upon a sudden churning tide of excruciating cold. Candy screeched against her bondage as the brutal douche shattered her climax and made every muscle in her body strain to sudden astonishing degrees. The surprise was more than enough to remove her pleasure, and as the waters were quickly sucked free, Candy was left twitching and fazed, all hint of orgasm gone.

Candy sobbed as the pain of the sting returned and took hold of her entire body, but it was not just a sense of sorrow and grief for a slain orgasm that coaxed out her tears. Candy was now weeping with a sense of complete abandonment to the control of the Kami. No matter what she did, no matter how diligently she tried to eke a meagre victory in her slavery to them, they would always win. They were centuries old, they had seen everything, experienced all, and committed an equally comprehensive encyclopaedia of excess on all manner of concubines. She was utterly theirs and strangely, this absolute ownership was a most satisfying and reassuring thing. Candy now knew just how flawless their dominion over her was. She sank into the stringent pain of her tomb and readied to continue her infernal suffering for the amusement of her master.

Chapter Eight

Lady Uzume’s mount was tiring but she could not slow down, not while there was the possibility of the Provinces organising a pursuit. It was unlikely that they would be able to catch up with her, but there was always the chance that a Stray aircraft may have ended up in their hands and might be deployed to intercept her. It was a remote possibility but she hadn’t just survived such a one sided battle to permit any risks on her life through carelessness.

The dust cloud created by the main column grew closer with every bounding step of her mount. Soon she was able to make out the reassuring contours of her howdah. At last she was safe. The firepower of the convoy would ensure that any pursuit was shredded before it could do any harm.

With a great sigh of relief she allowed her steed to finally slow. As its charge dropped to a slow trot, she could feel its titanic breaths between her legs as the massive carnivore fought to steady its pounding heart rate. A trio of elite Mitama outriders galloped up with weapons at the ready so they could defend their deity.

‘Lady Uzume! What happened?’ gasped one of them. He had seen the damage wrought to her armour for it indicated the unthinkable, that their deity had actually been attacked. Whether they believed that she could actually be killed or harmed was inconsequential, the fact that others had raised a hand to her was just as abhorrent to the Mitama.

‘The Wani have been defeated. A great dishonour has been inflicted upon the Empire,’ she hissed.

‘Your orders, Lady Uzume?’ growled the officer. He was obviously eager to mount a retaliatory strike as soon as possible, but the mission was complete. War would come soon enough and the Mitama would have all the blood they wished when they moved on the Provinces en masse and with the full support of the Houses of Fire.

‘We head home. This information is too valuable to be entrusted to messengers and must be delivered to the assembled Kami by one of their own.’

‘At once, Lady Uzume. I will have the column improve its pace.’

She pulled on the reigns and turned her mount towards her howdah where she could see that the ramp was already being lowered. Uzume opened her harness and started to dismount. She scowled inside her helmet as she felt her physique protest at being used. She had been in the saddle for long enough that her body had stiffened up and her many pulled muscles and contusions now made themselves known with even the slightest movement.

Landing on the extended platform, she straightened and refused to fall even as her whole body seemed to swell against the armour. She opened the door and strolled casually in before securing it and hiding any possible display of weakness from her subjects.

Aching and injured, she began to strip off her armour. She slipped into a simple satin robe and wandered upstairs barefoot to find Xiao still bound and in distress. The girl was in the exact same place she had left her and it was reassuring to have such ruthlessly enforced stability around her.

Uzume knelt down and embraced the tightly contained form. She nuzzled into her collar and kissed the girl’s cheek. She was now committed to Xiao because she had survived the battle and escaped the conflict intact. With her mistress returned to her with her future secured, it made Uzume wonder what she could do next with the hapless slavegirl.

‘Would you like to be my pet? My little feline companion that cuddles up at my feet?’

The look of abject horror on the girl’s face made Uzume laugh aloud. No matter what mental turmoil she might personally be in, Xaio’s distress always cheered her up.

‘I think so. But before I turn you into my pussy, I’m going to give you the honour of attending mine,’ she crooned, and started to unfasten the gag plate so she might make use of the girls trembling angst-riddled tongue.

Chapter Nine

Time became meaningless in the nightmare trial of the transport container and everything revolved around the minor torment of her feet, the agony coursing through her veins, and the brutality being visited upon her pussy. Candy became a simple creature of response to whatever was being done to her. She no longer fought it, no longer tried to find a way to defeat or trick her way around the impositions, she was utterly surrendered to the automated will of the devices that embraced, sustained, and abused her.

From the passage of night and day, she assessed that perhaps twenty days had elapsed before the endless and relentless pain of the sting started to dwindle. The potency of the venom was such that even a slight diminishing of its power brought no small measure of elation.

Candy dared not hope that the pain was ending. It had been her companion for so long that she could scarily remember what it felt like not to be continuing barbarous agony.

The misery retreated further and Candy sobbed with joy. She was finally being purged of the dreadful sting of that mordant little demon of the deep.

The toys within her were now forced to employ the savage chilling douche with more regularity and often had to add the rending assault of the metal soles to push Candy back from orgasm. They were utterly dedicated to ferrying her to the very brink of release and then deserting her, but now Candy was free of the excruciating poison and could throw her full conscious efforts to attaining climax. The voltage in her feet got more intense and the temperature of the vaginal enema lowered and grew in volume, matching her efforts and then overcoming them. It was a war being fought over pleasure and neither side would tolerate failure or show restraint.

Sounds came through her sarcophagus and it moved. Delirious from the lengthy trial, she flashed open her eyes and peered around as best she could. She found that she was in a different place. Her tomb had been taken off the howdah and she had been too embroiled in her ordeal to even notice. The coffin dropped back and she was staring once again at a stone ceiling.

The sounds of the locks being opened were the most glorious sounds she had ever heard. The lid was hoisted up, set aside, and Toyo-tama-hiko loomed over her as two women began to unfasten and extract the face mask.

The swollen tube was not deflated and rolled from her throat, bouncing her oesophagus on the various ridges. The tips fell free of her nostrils and mouth and Candy sucked in her first oral gasp of air in more than two weeks. She broke into racking coughs and flexed against the straps as warm light again caressed her body.

She strained against her bonds as though to illustrate how desperately she wanted to be free of them. The Warlord seemed to notice this act.

‘No, not yet, Candy. First, we have some unfinished business.’

‘Wh...what do you want of me? Haven’t you done enough?’ she managed to weakly mumble. Ordinarily she would never speak thus to a Kami, but her time in the box had eroded her perception of reality. Thoughts were aired immediately and she was having trouble severing the link to her mouth.

‘I have to know whether you are a spy for Hachiman.’

‘I’m not. I never was. I’m just his slave. He wanted someone from Earth and so he bought me. That’s all. I swear,’ she whispered, licking her lips during the reply as the dryness of her parched mouth revealed itself.

‘You understand that I have to be sure, slave,’ he warned.

‘I’m not involved in your plotting. I just want to serve,’ she stated.

‘I want the truth, Candy. Tell me and I will spare you a return to your isolation,’ he stated.

Candy gave a mortified scream when she saw him lift a pair of pincers and expose another tiny gelatinous entity between them.

‘Dear God no! Not again! Please, not again! I’m not a spy! Never was! Never! No! Don’t sting me! I’ll go insane!’ she squealed. Her eyes were full of tears and were locked to the terrible creature.

‘I want the truth!’ growled Toyo-tama-hiko and the pincers began to lower towards her breast.

Candy flew into berserk paroxysms as she fought to get free. She screamed her innocence as her mind reeled from the prospect of another sting. For two weeks she had been in absolute anguish. There was no way to endure it again because she now knew how long the effects were, and every second would be a hell she could not bear to repeat.

The beast hovered just above her nipple and Candy just started to scream in fright. She shrieked for Hachiman to save her, crying out to him as though her were truly her deity and she sought salvation.

Toyo-tama-hiko turned and dropped the beast back in the container. One of his servants closed the lid and carried it away.

‘Ssssh, slave. I believe you,’ he said soothingly, and stroked her forehead and cheek.

Candy broke into a weeping fit of jubilation and relief. She nuzzled into his hand as best she could and muttered adoring thanks to him for believing her and not subjecting her to a repeat of the torture of the Irukandji.

The many straps that had for so long kept her subdued were opened and her feet were finally separated from the mordant electrified soles. When she was hoisted upright she gave a deep mumbling croak. Her struggles against the pain and stalled pleasure had kept her body from wasting, but she was still very much used to one position. Her entire physique thundered with new aches from changing position after all this time, but to be free again made it all worthwhile.

Candy was pulled from her tomb and the inserts into her body were opened and extracted. The clamps let go and the dildo slithered from her pussy. The anal barrier was parted and with a twist and a haul the women started to pull on it. Candy jerked and unleashed a howl.

‘No, leave it installed in her,’ said Toyo-tama-hiko.

The women let complete go of her and Candy fell from their hands and collapsed on the floor. The sudden vicious drag had hauled her sphincter open and the item had almost escaped from her. Her rear had erupted with the most stark woe and as she landed on her the ground she instantly rolled onto her front and grabbed the brutalised orifice with both hands. She mewled and shuddered on the floor, and while she recovered from the sadistic extraction, her sarcophagus was taken away.

‘Now what do we say, slave?’ came the impassive tones of Toyo-tama-hiko.

Ruled by her subservience to the Warlord, Candy managed to lift herself up.

‘Th...thank you, Warlord,’ she stammered, and began to crawl over towards him.

Every limb was tardy in its response but she managed to lower her face to the ground and kiss the toes of his boots.

‘Pleasure me.’

Candy looked up and saw his cock jutting proudly from his garb. She pushed with her arms and managed to propel herself into a kneeling position. She then reverently reached up and embraced the solid manhood.

With her hands working at the base of his shaft and his balls, Candy opened her lips and took him as deep as she could. Locking lips to the warm phallus, her cheeks hollowed and she started to draw back before plunging back down. Her tongue spiralled around him and frolicked on his tip while she shuddered with delight. This man had condemned her to the most diabolic trial she had ever encountered and had done so on some trivial suspicion that she was an agent for someone he considered both rival and ally. The fact that he had been so merciless made her fellatio all the more devoted and passionate. When ruled ruthlessly, Candy could not help herself from succumbing to fierce adoration.

‘You may reward yourself while you’re at it, slave,’ he casually announced.

Her hands let go and dropped to her sides before they reached between her legs. Her fingers were still a little weak but she had been waiting for this moment for far too long to be denied by something as trivial as fatigue. Straps, freezing enemas, bitter charges of energy, and a skin-tight coffin may have succeeded, but exhaustion stood no chance.

Candy arched upward and her moan of rapture hummed against Toyo-tama-hiko’s cock. One hand continued to stroke her pussy, running along the length and pausing only to offer a few prompt whirls against her engorged clitoris. The ring danced under her touch and spread succulent warm joy inside the pierced morsel to vastly escalate her pleasure. Her clit ring could be the most baleful companion when used to castigate her, but when serving her pleasures, it was one of her greatest treasures.

Her head darted down and hauled slowly back as her hands worked feverishly. She reached up and turned her nipple rings, flipping them up and down and tickling the tips as she continued to suck and masturbate.

Candy started to quake as she felt the tightening of her physique and the spread of heat in her loins. Her eyes rolled and like a starved woman stood before a feast, she readied to devour this climax.

‘Don’t you dare come without my permission, slave!’ warned Toyo-tama-hiko.

Her eyes widened in horror and she looked up along his torso to meet his wicked glower. With hands on his sides, he grinned and seemed to take as much pleasure from her chagrin expression as he was from her oral dedication.

Candy blinked rapidly as she slowed her rate. She was already almost there, and it would be impossible to stop herself. She had been tortured and teased for weeks. Countless denied orgasms were leaving her livid with need whereas Toyo-tama-hiko was not so frustrated and would no doubt deliberately hold himself in check.

A slap stung her cheek.

‘No slowing down either, slave,’ he warned.

Candy gave a whimper and restored her previous efforts. She tried to avoid her now throbbing clitoris, but every touch between her legs only brought her closer. She had succeeded in delaying the inevitable, but she needed to ensure she did not fail the Warlord.

She instantly became a dervish of oral gratification. Her head plunged, her maw ached from the suction she established, and her tongue burned from over exertion as it became a serpent of spry devotion. She released her nipples and restored the extremity to its previous task. Her fingers teased and tickled, employing every trick and technique she knew to try and make the Warlord come before she did.

Candy recalled the bite of the Irukandji. She dredged up fell nightmare memories and poured disturbed fantasies through her minds eye. She draped herself in repugnant images, but nothing helped. Her body had waited too long and suffered too much to let her mind stop it now.

Candy almost gave a cry of joy when she felt the cock swell against her serpentine tongue.

Fingers closed into the back of her hair and tightened. The rear of her scalp flashed with discomfort and she sucked even harder as the anchor was used to pull her away. As though addicted to his cock, she strained and fought to stay in place but Toyo-tama-hiko was in no mood to be denied.

The tip of his penis came away and hung right before her maw. She stretched her tongue forth and managed to take one lap before he moved her back the final measure that left her tongue tip fluttering against air. Candy stared at the poised organ as she continued to masturbate and prayed that she be allowed to once again devour it.

‘That’s it. Keep going, slave!’ he purred.

His hand truculently connected with her cheek and then returned to deliver its back to the other side. The Warlord gave a small dark chuckle and repeated the attack three more times with greater speed. Candy shook and swayed as she released ever-louder cantankerous pips. Each slap imparted heat to her face and every subsequent smack added more until she gave a series of alarmed cries at this spiteful abuse.

The hand remained poised and Candy strained against the hold to her head. Her neck muscles stood up against her skin and her maw dropped open to let her tongue spill forth and beckon towards the awaiting manhood. Her thighs twitched as she neared orgasm and sweat trickled down her flushed form.

The Warlord moved her a little closer and her tongue spiralled around his tip. She gasped and made her scalp burn from her attempts to get back onto him.

‘Close you mouth, slave.’

Candy complied instantly and glared with anguish riddled eyes as he moved his hips forward and traced the erect cock around the perimeter of her maw, tickling the soft skin and making Candy mewl with despair. The feel of him so close was intoxicating but she dared not disobey. She was already going to suffer terribly for coming without permission, and was tempted to just drown herself in succulent images and delight in her orgasm, heedless of the consequences. She was going to fail so she might as well get it over with, but there was still hope. If she could just hold out a little longer, perhaps she would succeed. Candy knew that she would be defeated as she always was when she faced a Kami, but she still had to try.

‘Open!’ snapped Toyo-tama-hiko.

No sooner had her mouth opened into a perfectly accommodating ‘o’ than he sheathed himself into the eager orifice. Candy shook with elation as she used her head in the manner he desired, attending him at the rate he wanted and in the manner he wished.

Her tongue returned to its previous efforts and Candy became dizzy with bliss as she started to ascend into long overdue relief. Toyo-tama-hiko’s cock twitched and she felt the rush of her reward pour down and enter her throat.

‘Now, slave. You may come,’ he hissed.

The Warlord thrust deep and threw her head back and forth on drastic moves that stole her breath and left her possessed by the wondrous feeling of successful service and absolute abandonment to his usage.

Her face became a tight grimace of monstrous strain as she fought to maintain some shade of effective performance. Her body convulsed and jerked as her hands danced, her body now being operated by chaotic flashes of rapture charged motion. In moments she was squawking against his cock for mercy, even though it was her own hand responsible for this unendurable sensation.

The hand in her hair drew her from his shaft and shoved her aside. Candy collapsed as an otiose heap on the floor. Her hands now held tightly to her pussy as though to contain the eruption of ecstasy. With eyes tightly closed, mouth stretched wide, and thighs clenched to her palms, she muttered prayers for strength as she endured the after effects of such powerful release.

‘Now. We have made good time to the central lands and not all of the guests have arrived, so as promised, I am going to loan you to House Uka no mitama until the time of the celebration, whereupon you will be restored to my side. Should the festival be cancelled because they become a stray arrival, you will remain with them until such time as the festival for recovery is held.’

Candy’s head jolted up and she regarded him with a mortified stare. He barely even registered it.

‘Take her to the temple of House Uka no mitama.’

Hands grabbed her shoulders and forearms. Her hands were pulled from between her legs and she was tugged up onto her feet. Having been so occupied with the Warlord, she finally checked her surroundings and found that she was in a small chamber with several elegant banners hanging from the walls.

She was spun around to face an open door and with feet slipping beneath her she was marched out of the room. Candy looked over her shoulder and tried to find something to say.

‘Warlord, I...please...I...’ she stuttered, but he was already turning away and discarding her to her destiny.

Chapter Ten

Warlord Hachiman stood before the gates of the great wall with his Mikado poised one step back and to his right. Both he and Ame-waka-hiko were in full battle armour with copious blades and firearms adorning them. A dry and tardy breeze scudded along the massive courtyard and made their cloaks flap and slither upon the stone.

The gigantic portal had been opened in welcoming and ranks of Mitama stood to attention on either side of the Kami. Each was as still as a statue from being in the proximity of their Gods.

The burly and alien form of Toyotama-hiko marched over, bowed deeply, and joined his superior on the other side to the Mikado. He seemed to be in a fair mood, for which Hachiman was glad because it would temper his response to the imminent bad news.

The ground was beginning to quake as the multiple footfalls of hundreds of tons of reptilian mount grew closer and closer. Take-mika-dzuchi emerged from the shield wall with a trio of lieutenants in his wake. The master of the artillery regiments bowed to the other Fire Warlords and then spoke with staid evenness.

‘My spotters see no sign of pursuit, but we will keep the long range batteries trained on the convoy just to be safe.’

‘Why such precaution?’ asked Hachiman. ‘It was merely a routine salvage mission.’

He knew precisely what had happened, and his only concerns now revolved on the variables. He had planned everything as well as anyone could, but sometimes fate intervened and warped the plots of even the mightiest and meticulous Kami.

‘There are signs of conflict,’ reported the Warlord of Thunder.

‘Signs?’

‘The Wani are gone. As are most of the Mitama. There is no hint of them anywhere on the horizon so we must assume that they have been defeated.’

‘How can this be!’ hissed Toyotama-hiko, his great clawed hands furling into fists as he became aware of the seriousness of the situation.

‘Patience. We will have out answers shortly.’

The assembled leaders remained where they were and watched as the convoy entered the gates and came to a halt. The command Howdah turned around and lowered its access ramp to the ground. Standing boldly at the forefront was Lady Uzume. Her armour was riddled with dents and scratches, and a number of deep cracks opened several of the plates. Behind her were four officers who each held the end of a najinata. Held between the two polearms was a body and it was wrapped in the battle banner of the Mitama.

Uzume dropped to her knees, interlocked her ankles, and pressed her forehead to the floor.

‘Revered and blessed Warlords, your humble servant returns to you with grave and most sorrowful tidings. The Eastern Provinces attacked our forces and beloved Masuda was slain. I personally led our troops to save the Wani for they were surrounded by the enemy army and vastly outnumbered. We fought with honour, but could not prevail. I have returned to bring you the news of the uprising, to bring a great hero of the Empire back for a funeral befitting such a great warrior, and to face my punishment. Permit me to end my life.’

Hachiman left Uzume where she was and walked over to the body. He opened the banner and regarded the calm features of Masuda. With a vexed flick of his wrist he closed the shroud and stomped towards his agent. When his boots appeared before her, she arose a little but remained on her knees. Hachiman hoisted her chin and then delivered a ferocious backhanded slap across her cheek. The blow wrenched her to one side and deposited her on her flank.

‘Disgrace! You have shamed us all with this defeat. You will not take your life because that erases your crime far too easily, and I want you to live with this dishonour, and you will do so without letting it slur me, or the Mitama you so ineptly led.’

Hachiman turned his back on her and took three steps before he addressed her again with callous words that dripped with loathing. He had to make sure that everyone believed this scenario. Uzume’s dismissal had to seem genuine and as much as it pained him to do so, a larger scheme was at stake here and for their prosperous and content future, pain had to be endured in the present.

‘The Mitama and the Wani have fought with honour. The disgraceful failings of their leader should not be permitted to reflect on their reputation. So, in the name of the Sun-Goddess, I eject you from House Hachiman. May you live many years with this weight hanging on your soul.’

Hachiman started to march from the courtyard, leaving Uzume cowering on the floor. His aids fell in behind him, but not before Toyotama-hiko glanced over his shoulder and gave a small almost imperceptible hiss of excitement. Hachiman pondered how the ancient quotation was proving so true when it stated that all warfare was based on deception. Through his deceits and schemes he was ensuring levels of unparalleled victory.

Chapter Eleven

Candy was shown through the various passages and was delivered through a guard room and into open air. She now saw that she had been transported into a great mountain range where cruel cold peaks clawed upward at the sky. About the snow capped spires of rock were a number of elegant palaces, each of which bore the beautiful flowing flags of various Imperial Houses.

A small wagon was parked outside of the palace of Toyo-tama-hiko, although it looked more like a cage on wheels rather than any normal transport. The three yard by three yard cube had an open rear door and two women in severe ponygirl outfits were already harnessed to the ‘T’ shaped yoke that reached out from the front. Each pony had a brilliant mane of brightly coloured hair and their every movement caused the many small bells that hung both from their tack and their exposed nipple rings to chime and jingle. Perched atop high-heeled hoofboots, their hands clasped to the beam that was presented before them and their leather cuffs were locked to rings on either side of the malleable handgrips. From the base of the rigid corsets that crushed their waists and served as the basis for the entire harness sprung a swaying tail of hair that was dyed to match their own vivid manes. Fitted with blinkers, they chewed upon their bits and shuffled nervously from foot to foot as though anxious to commence their journey.

Candy noticed them with new eyes for she had been told that this might well be her fate. She found that it was not altogether objectionable and considered the delight she might find in being able to run and trot about the land. There was the other benefit in that a ponygirl would not be expected to enter civilised society, would not be expected to have secrets that could be torn from her, and so she would finally be free of Kami subterfuge.

Perhaps this was the full measure of what Toyo-tama-hiko wanted. His sly comments had been a means to remove her from the world, to hide her behind a bit so that Hachiman could not find her, reclaim her, and be informed as to what the Supreme Warlord of Water was breeding in that abyssal trench. But was it even more than that? Did he expect the secret to not only be lost, but be erased? Even if Hachiman found her, would her humanity be too eroded to expose what she had once known? Would life as a pony eventually strip away Candy and leave only a happy prancing filly in its place? The Empire had stripped away Candice to create the voluptuous Candy, so she had no doubts as to their ability to perform this act again.

She was shown up into the back of the cage and her hands were entered into a set of dense manacles that hung from a foot of chain fixed in the middle of the roof. She settled onto the wooden floor and looked around as the door was locked behind her.

A single slap to the rear of a ponygirl had the trained women leaning into the yoke and then gathering speed until they were galloping along the smooth winding roads that travelled from palace to palace.

Candy merely sat and held to the chains as she watched this strange land pass before her. Sometimes her eyes strayed to the rippling bodies of the ponygirls and this stoked a lewd intent. There was something so alluring about the stamp of their hoofs, the huff of their deep breaths, the flick of their hair, and the sparkle as gems of perspiration welled on smooth sun kissed skin or trekked across their leather tack in chaotic trickles.

Kara’s envy was now understandable. The woman may have been Nakatomi, but she was destined to dwell only in the undersea realm of her masters. Kara’s exploration of perversity and indulgence was limited to that realm alone, and although Candy never really got to experience dominance, whole other arenas of learning were open to her.

The ponies knew the route home and were trusted to deliver her. They negotiated the lofty passes, trundled through deep valleys, and bolted through dark mountainous tunnels when the peaks above proved too treacherous or were occupied by another sprawling Imperial palace. The plane of Izanagi seemed to be a sacred one and so each House maintained a representative around it. If this were truly the case then it meant that the Moon-God and Sun-Goddess might also be close by, holding court amidst this grand settlement of the elite Kami.

The other traffic on the road was formed from female slaves and their passengers. Other ornate gigs allowed Kami or priest to recline in splendour and savour the sights about them. Wagons and carts hauled merchandise and shipments, and splendid coaches with teams of fillies towed groups of travellers.

They turned from the main road and began to approach a squat palace. It lurked on the sun-drenched side of a stubby mountain and the building sat amidst gardens far larger than any others she had seen. A small but effective perimeter wall offered battlements that were laden with Wani and it also sported the flags of the Great House of the Earth Kami known as Uka no mitama.

The wagon raced towards a small gatehouse where a squad of armoured Wani stood to attention with miniguns trained on the land. The monstrous cluster barrelled machines seemed trivial in their grasp as did the vast metal magazines worn on their backs. The wagon rocketed through unmolested and almost undetected and Candy found herself in an eerie realm where the slaves of the Empire were devolved through the imposition of strict animal costumes.

There were several courtyards with marvellous stables situated about them and paddocks placed amidst the neighbouring fields. Beyond this domain of human equines were other pastures in which could be seen a variety of other beasts that were the true fare of this house. The distant creatures were clearly not designed to mimic horses but she could not secure any more details because there were numerous trees and bushes in the way, as well as barns and other buildings that arose amidst these fields.

There was a large contingent of human horses stationed here, so it seemed that there was a close relationship between House Uka no mitama and House Hohodemi, and therefore her transition from one to the other would be exceptionally easy in this palace. No doubt this was another intended part of Toyo-tama-hiko’s plan to subjugate and hide her.

Staring at the distant strange shapes that could be spied moving through the few gaps between tree and building, Candy wondered what other depraved machinations this House had to offer her.

As the cage moved through the main courtyard she saw another reason why Hohodemi had stationed so many of his House’s products here. Amidst the stables were also kennels, and in these squat prisons she could see dozens of men and women in the process of being trained as hunting dogs. Their trainers were dressed in mockery of riding outfits save that they were generally formed from a fetishistic fabric to inspire lust and thus further torment their adoring charges, none of whom were free of some mode of stern chastity device.

Hidden behind muzzles or artificial snouts, the hounds clambered over each other for the attention of their regal masters and mistresses who chastised a wayward performance with cane, whip, or crop.

The cage continued through the courtyards and was delivered to the main gates were several people had already gathered. Standing boldly at the forefront was a tall and monstrously built male with intoxicating emerald eyes. His head was shaven and he wore a great fur coat that trailed to the ground all around him and hid everything save his arms. These were bare, and his huge muscles bore entwined tattoos of strange mythological beasts rampaging amidst exquisite patterns and delicate flowing symbols.

Standing at his side was a smaller individual with a more streamlined physique. His arms and pectorals were coated with the same extravagant bestial tattoos and he had a wild mane of black hair that fell about his features and hung to his shoulders. Wearing leather trousers and tall form-fitting boots, his arms were crossed over his chest and a slender stalk of black plastic jutted from one fist. The two silvery prongs on the end instantly revealed what this was and Candy immediately committed herself to obedience rather than taste of its ministrations.

Four women stood in a line behind the two men. Each was dressed identically and other than hair colour it was difficult to differentiate between them. Each salacious beauty wore a slim belt with a leather pouch at the side, and a pair of tight leather riding chaps that poured down their legs and entered knee high riding boots. Silver struts emerged at their ankles and reached back to hold a brutally fanged wheel. Candy hoped the cruel impression of these spurs was just to intimidate, and if so, then it was a function that was having the desired effect.

The upper bodies of these equerries were completely naked save for the rings that transfixed their nipples and the silver collar that encompassed their throat and presented a ubiquitous ring at the front. Candy assumed that these women were all Kamube because their hair was still worn in the facet of their former life as a steed - shaven away at the sides. Each cascading mane was fastened into a high ponytail that tumbled down to the base of their spine and each woman bore a riding crop and stared blankly forward while they stood to rigid attention.

For a brief moment, Candy’s eyes slipped passed the entourage and caught a glimpse inside the palace. Through the large doors she saw a great reception hall and was momentarily startled when she spied a woman in majestic regal attire wander through holding a pair of silver bowls. Her corseted body, bow shaped bustle, and trailing voluminous skirts were all formed from shimmering vinyl and her long hair was wound up into a bun that lurked beneath the rear of a small top hat. What was just as startling was what followed her – a small pack of slender female forms. Each was lost within a comprehensive costume that kept them on all fours and presented them with a feline countenance and swaying tail. The human cats scuttled after her with eyes that anxiously looked up at the bowls she carried. The strange procession left her field of vision and Candy realised just how absolute the services of this House were. House Hohodemi focused only on steeds, but this House handled the massive menagerie of other roles available should one wish to train or force a human into a depreciated animal role.

The cage slowed to a halt and a pair of the Kamube immediately strode around and opened the door before removing her cuffs and drawing Candy free. They held her by her arms and brought her before the fur swathed male. She kept her gaze lowered but this was corrected when a crop nudged under her chin and hoisted it high into the air. The other woman used her crop to tap at Candy’s thighs and make her spread her legs.

‘Imbe. Identity,’ flatly ordered the fur-clad priest.

‘This is the kami-tsu-ko from House Toyo-tama-hiko. She is to enjoy the efforts of our House for the Supreme Warlord’s amusement,’ replied the Imbe.

‘Grazing sheep,’ was the deep impassive command of the male.

‘Yes, Nakatomi,’ announced his Imbe. ‘Stable the ponies and bring the specimen.’

The other two women moved around to the ponies and began to gently stroke their manes and faces as well as to soothe their breasts with some delicate tickles. The women offered equally approving words, telling them that they were good ponies and asking if they wanted to be hosed down after their long run. The ponies whinnied and stamped their hoofs with delight and Candy felt an even greater envy of their status. All they had to do was run and obey, and for this they received the most sublime treatment. The ponygirls enhanced Candy’s jealously further because it was obvious that she was to be offered no such gentleness.

The equerries opened their pouches and one produced a pair of handcuffs that brought and locked Candy’s hands behind her back. The other dropped a choke chain over her head before offering the leash to the Imbe. He grabbed the lead and strode onwards to let the Kamube fall in behind them. The chain rattled and offered a gentle squeeze that made her stumble forward and shake her head to loosen the minor crimp it had applied. The noose of steel links loosened and Candy gave a cry when a lucent streak crossed her buttocks. A capricious swat had chastised her delay and Candy quickened her step to keep up as the steady bootfalls of the women and chime of their spurs continued to sound warningly behind her.

The strong bare back of the Imbe occupied her vision and she watched with growing prurience as the leather on his form shimmered and flexed with his bold stride. The prod hung in one hand and her leash in the other to offer him total command, and his assistants were poised to offer arbitrary correction as they wished. Several times they struck her rear or thighs for no reason, simply to enjoy punishing a slave just as they had been once disciplined before they had gained their promotions.

The group left the areas where the ponies pranced and played and Candy’s legs started to tremble beneath her as she saw what the operatives of this House were truly capable of. It was a terribly demeaning place, where slaves were dragged down by stringent uniforms that turned them into mere herd creatures. Yet, it also seemed to be a place of liberation from humanity, of shedding civilisation and etiquette to embrace animal instinct, drives, and passions.

Before she had a chance to gauge the full measure of what was being done to the slaves here, Candy was suddenly shown down a small path and brought to a long barn.

A corridor ran down the centre of the building and featureless doors were situated along either side before reaching a barred gate at the other end. Beyond this all she could see was tall grass and hints of dark forms moving within it.

The Imbe paused before a door and turned around. One of the kamube opened it for him and Candy was brought to a small chamber where the next phase of her ordeal was to be implemented.

A single light revealed that this was a room with a singular purpose, a changing room that would turn her into a mere grazing animal. The Imbe removed her lead and opened her cuffs as the women grabbed the first chapter of her initiation.

A stern leather catsuit appeared in their arms. The polished dense hide had various rings riveted into place upon it, and the garment extended into mittens and socks, both of which had a padded palm and sole.

Knowing that to resist would just mean being forced and probably punished as well, Candy allowed them to steer her limbs into the sheaths and then zip up the back of her new skin. She was pushed down into a squat and her hands delivered to the floor. Slim lengths of chain were employed to connect the rings at her ankles to those of her wrists. Shorter ones then connected the middle of her shin to the middle of her forearm and a pair of clips irrevocably connected her knees to her elbows.

Before she could try to rise, a sculpted metal strut was set to her back so that it covered the zip. The strut followed her contours and revealed a monstrous posture collar at one end with rings set along the bottom. The hinges at the back had allowed it to part at the front and her throat was encompassed by a towering wall of meagrely padded steel that set her chin up to such a degree that it made it hard to open her mouth against its demands. She also felt the presence of two familiar solid nodules against either side of her throat. Any option to plead for mercy was now gone.

The collar was locked and the jaws of the waistband were also closed. This tight steel corset grabbed her sides and dragged in before it too was locked at her stomach. She now had no way to rise up from this awkward four-legged stoop.

An open faced leather hood was pulled down so that it covered her collar. The ranks of clips that were fixed to the neckline snatched the anchors on her collar and Candy was left with no way to draw it free.

A box was opened and she gave a whimper as she saw the final part of her transformation appear. Ordinarily she would have laughed because it seemed so ridiculous, but crushed down onto all fours, she found it less jovial.

The billowing white cloud of wild wool was brought around her body and locked into place, leaving only a black leather head and four legs emerging from its massive folds. The capability of this wild cocoon to protect was shown to be negligible when the prod dug in through it and reached her rear. Candy gave a squawk as a snap of pain charged into her rear and made her lurch away towards the door. The collar gave her a vindictive blast that caused her to stifle her complaints and simply obey.

She strained against the demands of her uniform but could not escape its strict control. She had to fight just to waddle, and she felt terribly demeaned as she was made to awkwardly amble before the feet of those who had done this to her. She could scarily even achieve motion, every shuffle of a foot or hand made her muscles burn, but another jab of the prod and few swats of the crops to the backs of the shins soon committed her to complying. The words to implore them to let her get used to the position were not easy to keep in check, but she was having enough trouble as it was without adding shocks of her control collar to the ordeal.

Drearily, Candy very slowly made for the door and another jab of the infernal prod turned her and steered her towards the gate. Huffing and panting for breath, she shuffled onwards, her body aching from having to try and trek onwards against this absurd imprisonment.

A kamube opened the simple barrier and another jab into her rear caused her to scuttle forth into the grass. The gate was locked and she was deserted to her lot.

No word had been exchanged, no command given. They regarded her as a beast and treated her as such.

Candy tried to collapse into the green stalks but the chains connecting her hands and feet would not let her stretch her exterminates apart enough to let her settle down. She tried pulling them in but the strut along her spine would not let her torso curl up and permit this. The only way she could lay down would be to adopt a most savage splits, and she just was not flexible enough to accomplish this. Candy sobbed and strained as hard as she could, trying to break a chain free of its mooring so she might find some meagre solace in this terrible pose. It was useless. This evil house had done its work flawlessly. She was doomed to perching herself on her four feet and not be able to settle down. How could she be expected to exist like this? She would not be able to sleep, to rest, to do anything at all. There had to be more to this lot, there just had to be.

Candy swallowed for strength and started to push on into the tall grass in search of answers, all the while fearing that this was it, that she would be trapped in this ferocious pose for her whole sentence here.

Brushing through the grasses she came across another female sheep and realised that each of them bore a number that was stencilled on the forehead of their hood and which easily identified them.

The impossibly hobbled woman was diligently munching on the greenery, closing her teeth on a bushel, wrenching it free, and then hastily devouring it. She barely even registered the new arrival’s presence and merely continued eating with alacrity.

Wondering what was expected of her, Candy continued to wander onwards. She moved through the grasses as best she could, slowly gaining familiarity with being able to move. She had to rest often because the demands of the uniform were not small and despite her physical fitness it was not easy to operate within it.

All she found were other women in sheep uniforms, eating as quickly as they could. Finally, she reached the low wooden fence that surrounded their grazing field. Scarcely a yard high, ordinarily she could just step over it, but in this terrible costume it was an insurmountable obstacle. Candy peered through and saw the stables with their beautiful ponies and anxious hounds, sultry trainers, and adoring servants. Tears welled in her eyes as she dreamed of being sent there. Her trial in House Uka no mitama was going to be a stringent one, but she was sure it would make her transfer to Hohodemi all the more succulent when she finally earned it. It at least gave her something to look forward to, and she stared longingly at the elegant curves and tight uniforms of the trainers as they tacked up, hosed down, fed, trained, and led the ponygirls around.

Candy started to follow the fence as best she could, hoping to find something other than grass and sheep in this infernal paddock.

Finally, she broke through onto an area of stone that existed on the other side of the barn in which she had been created. The preparation chambers were on one side and the grasses between the gate that accessed the field and this side of the barn had hidden this place from her when she had first been introduced.

The side of the barn had a panel upon it with a large lever and a small gallows holding a bell and striker.

Riveted to the ground in ordered rows were ranks of low platforms. A padded table was moulded to fit the contours of their horizontal torsos and a single wooden stem supported them. Fastened along the sides were straps that draped onto the ground. Behind each was a wooden rack and on each side hung curls of rubber piping that connected to handles with either a hose or a large bulbous head attached to them. On top of each rack was a small control panel with several gauges, a couple of dials, and some switches in addition to a small lever. In all, it appeared to be some sort of archaic industrial gas pump.

Candy decided to take a closer look but as soon as she stepped out she felt the collar started to tingle. She tried to halt her passage but her momentum was not easy to counter. The two prongs started to pass a higher charge between each other and she gritted her teeth and started to stumble backwards as best she could. The punishment lessened.

Confused as to what was going to be expected of her, she lurked in the grasses and merely watched the ponies with lecherous eyes.

The sun was starting to vanish behind the peaks and spread long angular shadows across the mountainous terrain. Suddenly, several men dressed identically to the Imbe but with very few tattoos emerged. One of them rang out some deep booming notes on the bell and then lifted the lever halfway so that it stood out horizontally from the barn. Moments later Candy heard movement all around her as the sheep congregated and started to shuffle into position about the pads. With soft relishing sighs they sank down and rested their weary limbs.

The priests moved amongst them and brought up the straps to thread the buckles and then tighten them over the backs of the women. The Imbe appeared and walked around the women as they were being restrained.

Candy feared what would be done to them overnight but she needed to rest, and this was the only way she would manage it.

Having seen that the electronic perimeter was deactivated she moved out from the grass and moved towards a vacant spot where she settled into place. Straps were drawn over her body and she was hauled into the cushioned top of the platform.

‘Invert the field,’ ordered the Imbe.

Candy guessed what that meant and when the lever was lifted all the way up she flinched when she heard an agonised squawk from the grass. Two of the priests turned and headed into the vegetation, homing in on the howls of a woman who had refused to accept the call or been too far away to make it back in time.

The woman cried out and wailed as she was hoisted up and brought to the open area whereupon her responses dropped to disorientated murmurs and gurgles when her belt ceased functioning.

‘Fill the herd,’ announced the Imbe, and brought immediate action from his subordinates.

The men moved amongst the captive women. They took up one of the handles and paid out the hose before simply inserting the end into the rear of each woman. The same plug that Candy still wore was not doubt in place and each woman shuddered and wriggled as a switch was flicked and the hose shuddered and gurgled as an enema was administered.

Candy gave a spasm when she felt a hose suddenly slip between her buttocks and slide into place on the anal plug before locking to it. Unable to regurgitate the hose she gave a shocked gasp as she felt warm fluid being forced into her rear. If she tensed, the influx suddenly swelled and stretched at her tracts so she instantly relaxed and let the flow negotiate the twists and turns of her body and fill her completely. It was not an unpleasant sensation and coupled with the chance to relax her limbs, she simply hung in her bonds and savoured the feel of being washed internally. Candy started to hiss and huff as the process continued and she started to feel her insides protesting against the amount being forced into her. A brief attempt to try and eject some of the measure again made the reservoir immediately beyond her sphincter swell suddenly and bring discouraging pain. Candy panted for breath and strove to relax as the internal ocean continued to grow and grow.

Just as she was reaching the limits of what she could accept without crying out, the pump stopped for a few minutes, during which time she could hear the deep grumbling moans of the other sheep. Candy’s voice joined them when then pump began to siphon away what it had bequeathed. The feeling of deflation made her shiver and whimper as the pressure eased and vanished from inside her body.

‘Assess the harvest,’ added the Imbe.

The priests again started to work through the ranks. They would twist the pumps to unlock them and then hung them back up before checking the gauges on each frame. Candy could hear an assortment of deep purling moans, wanton groans, and despairing whimpers. One by one the women were attended and the sounds of their varied responses grew closer and closer until it was Candy’s turn.

She felt the haul at her captive sphincter as the hose was extracted and then put away and then the priest appeared at her side with tubing in hand. She looked at him with an imploring expression that was utterly lost beneath her uniform.

‘Six units short. Very unacceptable,’ he muttered to himself.

Candy could now see that the hose connected to a solid stool that he set down right before her so that she was staring down a nozzle that emerged from the top. The priest vanished and Candy fought against her posture collar to try and find out what was going on. Clearly she had erred but had no idea how or why or what her punishment was to be.

The hose started to spray her face with water and Candy gave a brief squeak of shock and struggled against her bonds. The priest manoeuvred the stool so that the jet was striking just beneath her nose and then moved to the woman ahead of her.

Candy spluttered and tried to access air as water entered her nose and poured over her mouth in a near comprehensive sheet. Gurgling and sobbing, she instinctively tried to avoid it but there was no way to acquire the inch or so that would grant her a reprieve.

The flow cut off and she coughed and gasped for breath. Peering up, she saw the priest assess the gauges for the woman in front of her. He smiled and nodded with approval before removing the bulbous headed hose. He reached under and slotted it into the underside of the platform where it locked into position. The priest flicked a control and the woman quivered as the toy vibrated and poured her reward into her pussy. The priest moved to the neighbour, found the gauges inadequate, but not a degree to warrant punishment, and simply deserted the next girl who gave a despairing whimper of regret that she had failed to earn her prize.

Candy’s attention was summarily returned to the small stool as the jet was switched on again and hurled water onto her face. She thrashed madly as her air was cut off or she was forced to capture inadequate hints of a breath through the flow. It was incredible frustrating. The simple stream was stupidly easy to avoid, but her bondage was leaving her helpless to achieve even the slightest motion. When the cascade stopped, she was left retching and hacking from the small amount she had accidentally inhaled in her rash efforts to find precious air.

The woman before her was now lying slack and was also panting, save that her response was due to a long and much deserved orgasm. The toy was now silent and the slave was resting comfortably, whereas Candy knew that she was in for a long night of chastisement. If only they had told her what to do when they had entered her here, but then, why would they tell a sheep how to be a sheep. She had to learn the hard way, and indeed it was a very hard lesson.

As she hung in vulnerable misery, being smothered with water at sporadic intervals while those slaves who had complied with the demands of the field earned equally sporadic episodes of ecstasy from their shivering toys, Candy tried to figure out what to do.

The enema that each of them were subjected to had have been measured when it was take away, and the amount of extra material used to judge what they had done for the day. A slave who had eaten well was permitted to rest. Those who had gorged themselves were given an orgasmic reward, and the acutely lazy were punished. From listening to the sated purls of delight from the woman in front of her, Candy knew what she wanted for tomorrow evening, but first she had to survive the night.

Chapter Twelve

Uzume stroked the velvet head of her pet. Xiao was curled beside her, resting after she had been given a vigorous over-the-knee spanking that had been applied just to amuse her mistress. The purple velvet catsuit covered her entirely, and a leather harness reached around her body to accentuate her curves and bestow a flowing elegant tail. Leather paws removed her fingers and left her feet smooth and featureless. Her features were hidden behind a simple mask with a feline countenance and small pricked ears.

Uzume extended her other hand and poured some more sake into the small dish. She had chosen to come and sit in the garden and relax on a large leather cushion while her Mikado saw to packing her possessions as well as her other concubines. To improve the image of her dismissal she had given orders that all, including her Imbe, be installed in the most brutal of bondage sarcophagi. With electrical toys locked to them, they would be screaming impotently against their gags in isolated personal anguish. Their hellish containment would impress upon them how bitter their mistress was. Her spiteful retaliation against her own possessions might help word spread and it would add extra legitimacy to Hachiman’s plot.

She listened to the soft sounds of the garden and tried to look morose. If she were not approached soon, she would have to actually leave the palace and try and find somewhere to relocate to. She was owed a few favours from some Earth lords, but she would prefer to remain in this region.

Undeserving of being shown the courtesy of being introduced to him, she was caught by surprise when Toyotama-hiko walked passed her. She was a pariah in the palace, disgraced, and ejected. To the priests and concubines of the house she did not exist.

‘Taking in a last look of the House?’

‘I doubt I even deserve that,’ she said meekly and took a sip of her drink.

‘Nonsense,’ he rebuked.

‘I failed my master. I don’t deserve life, but I also don’t deserve death.’

‘Death is a subject that also concerns me, for I lost many Wani.’

‘They were a credit to you, Warlord.’

‘And yet you have been disgraced and ejected from House Hachiman because you went back to help them. Any other power in the Empire would have just left them to cover a withdrawal, but you took the Mitama into the battle to save them, and it cost you everything.’

‘My gratitude for pointing out the utterly obvious, Warlord. If you have finished reminding me of my miserable fate, I’ll bid you farewell as I have to try and find somewhere to sleep tonight.’

‘Hachiman was a fool to dismiss you,’ he said evenly.

‘Careful with your words, Warlord. You will end up joining me in vagrancy should such a tone reach the ears of your leader.’

‘But what if he were not my leader. What if he were my equal. What if he were our equal.’

‘You speak as you did when you were thrusting into Candy in the playroom.’

‘And I stand by those words, even now, just as you stood by my Wani. Your name is already vaulted in their ranks for this. But you are in disfavour with all others, especially because Masuda was well liked. Some are saying you deliberately allowed him to be killed lest he grow in popularity and threaten the strength of your position as Hachiman’s agent.’

‘Preposterous,’ she snapped and yanked on Xiao’s tail to make her jerk and hiss as the buttplug that entered her bottom stretched her suddenly.

‘Indeed. But whispers have a way of echoing upon each other until they gain strength. You are in disgrace now, but I fear unless you do something to mitigate the damage to your standing, your lot will worsen. You may be stripped of Kami status.’

Uzume paused for a moment as though to steady herself in the face of such a threat.

‘I cannot act, Warlord. None will allow me to sit at their table. I will have to call upon every favour I have just to find a bed.’

‘I already have the backing of the other Great Houses. The Warlords of Water have taken this matter to the Houses of Earth and Air and have found receptive ears. Hachiman has too much power. Taking the Wani from his authority was universally agreed upon as the solution, but they still do not want one with their blood leading them. Dividing power with you is assured of success.’

‘I agree.’

‘Then come with me as my guest to the festival. When we arrive, the matter will be brought before Sun-Goddess and Moon-God. House Wani will be established, and we will stand as Warlord and Warlady of that force, and we will carve a name of honour and victory in the blood of those of Earth when battle begins.’

‘You are most gracious, Toyotama-hiko. How could I ever repay this boon?’ she answered with a genuinely joyous edge to her voice. It was not happiness that she had been saved from disgrace and further retaliation over Masuda, but that her master’s plan was occurring precisely as he intended. Another milestone had been reached on the road that would carry her back into his arms.

‘Let me pound that feline’s pert bottom to start with, and then perhaps later we can see what else can be done to satisfy me,’ he purred as his eyes wandered up and down Uzume’s reclining form. Uzume just grinned and began to unfasten the straps that held tail and plug to her pet.

Chapter Thirteen

It was a long and arduous night of water torture for Candy. When she managed to nod off, she would be awoken by the sudden flow of her punishment. Sometimes this caught her at the end of an exhale and thus left her livid with panic as her tolerances were pushed to the limit by each instance of liquid castigation.

The dull glow of a new sunrise began to warm the sky and this was the hardest part of the night for Candy. As the sounds of activity across the palace began to grow in volume, as ponies were tacked up, and pets walked, she continued to suffer. Praying for the priests to arrive and set her free, every new instance of abuse was even more maddening than the last.

Finally the small group of men returned and the Imbe oversaw their actions. The whole electronic field was again switched off and toys were removed and hung up, straps were set free, and her infernal torture device was switched off and placed in the frame. The straps let go and she rapidly shuffled for the grass.

‘Arm the field!’ announced the Imbe and a couple of sheep gave an anguished squeal as they were caught at the perimeter when the invisible barrier was re-established.

Candy threw herself into her task and found that this was not like any grass she had ever encountered. It was soft, and had a strange tang to it. Clearly it had to be nourishing enough to sustain them and so she ripped free tufts and ate as vigorously as she could. The day was long and tiring, but Candy desperately wanted to avoid another night of watery abuse and pushed her body on and on until she thought she was going to collapse or her jaw fall off from overt use.

That evening, when she finally took her position, she veritably collapsed onto the platform. Weary as she was, she managed a murmur of happiness when the priest behind her merely moved on, her quantities having been judged sufficient for the day.

As the days trailed by, Candy noticed that those sheep who were consistently earning a reward at night were being taken to the gate and escorted out of the field. After seeing this occur a couple of times, she scuttled to the fence and looked out to see where they were being taken. She saw that it was a large three storey building a short distance away but there were no more clues as to their fate.

Other women were introduced to the replace the extracted, and Candy herself repeated what she had seen on arrival when a fresh face appeared and looked at her with aghast horror before simply moving on. As expected, the new arrivals often earned punishment that night and many of them bellowed and hollered for mercy, adding the discipline of their collars to their ordeal.

Candy finally managed to earn a reward after eight days in the field and the orgasm the machine bequeathed was ample reward for all the hours of ferocious digestion. Each night now she acquired the toy. It was pushed up into a slot in the underside so that the rounded head nudged into a gap in the padding and leant tightly to her imprisoned loins. It threw succulent vibrations through the catsuit and dragged her through several savage orgasms before it finally stopped. Several times throughout the night she was rewarded again, and each time she was left elated and overjoyed at her role in this field. She was succeeding, she was excelling, and perhaps soon she would be taken to the next building and therefore another step closer to a transfer to ponygirl status.

It was during this time that she started to notice a change in her body. Her breasts, while trapped within the catsuit were starting to feel tight within their cups and possessed of a rippling itchy feeling that she could not discern the cause of.

In many ways, she missed being a normal slave. Although there were far more demands upon her, she was at least able to speak, to converse, to have some modicum of self-determination. There were no options for disobedience with this House, she was trapped and would serve her function. Only reward or discipline was possible against the impossible confines they imparted upon those handed to them. The names of the priests were also lost to her. They never employed identity, just rank. It made them seem even more beyond her bestial understanding.

The grasses beside her suddenly parted and a priest appeared. Candy’s heart leaped with joy that she was going to earn a path out of this dismal and pointless servitude. He stepped before her, checked the identification on her forehead and then moved on. Candy was flabbergasted.

A shock of raging fire crossed the back of her thigh and made her shriek. The collar retaliated and made the cry rise upwards into a squall before she managed to check her failing and stop making noise.

The cane struck the other thigh and she accepted the encouragement and started to head forward towards the barn. Finally, she was going to be freed of this accursed uniform. Candy loved to serve, to be owned, to sate the desires of those about her. This facet served no clear purpose. She was almost here out of spite. Was that the real purpose of House Uka no mitama? Their mundane duties in rearing herds for the Empire were augmented by being the last stop for recalcitrant slaves. A slave who continually failed even against the brutal demands of this House would only know condemnation to Yomi.

The gate was opened and Candy was shown to one of the changing rooms where a trio of kamube quickly stripped away her uniform. The fleece and the leather all left her body as did the steel backbone that had kept her close to the ground. The anal plug remained however, and Candy realised that while she may have escaped the field of the sheep, her lot as a human beast was not yet over.

She was brought to her feet and cuffs were set to her wrists and feet to pin them behind her back and to greatly hobble every step.

‘This one is coming along nicely,’ commented the Imbe and reached up to squeeze one of her breasts.

Candy gave a squawk as unexpected pressure caused a flare of pain within the flesh. She jerked away but the short hobble chain caused her to lose her balance. She fell aside into the arms of a kamube who yanked her back upright with an irritated huff before grabbing her tightly. Candy was pinned to the woman’s naked chest and could feel the warm nipple rings digging into her back as hands reached under her armpits and the woman’s forearms stretched out to rack Candy’s arms and establish a fierce grapple. Candy rose to tiptoe and arched her chest up as she tried to ease the force being applied to her.

The Imbe stepped forward and grabbed her chin before he squeezed the other breast. This time he employed more strength and Candy cried out from the maltreatment. She jiggled on her feet and the kamube tightened her grapple to keep Candy subdued.

‘What have you done to me!’ she barked suddenly.

‘The grass that has sustained you is laden with other ingredients. Hormones to be precise. You are now ready to be transferred to the milking barns.’

‘What!?!” she blurted.

‘You will be turned into a human cow, and will serve House Uka no mitama as such until you are deemed worthy of further elevation.’

‘This is insane!’ she snapped.

A stern slap caught her cheek and jerked her head aside.

‘Keep your disrespectful words to yourself, slave! Or we will send you to Yomi!’ he snarled.

Candy let her head loll back around and hang limp. The heat of the chastisement still possessed her cheek, but in truth it was fear of the underworld that had subjugated her.

‘Bring her,’ spat the Imbe and started to march from the barn.

One of the kamube stayed to put away the uniform in preparation for the next hapless slave who would have to wear it, and the other two held her arms in strict holds while frog marched her in the wake of the priest. They pushed and tugged with vindictive regularity, obviously greatly irked by the contempt she had shown the House that they now served. The kamube of House Uka no mitama had to have been the most fanatic devotees because in any other House, elevation from sex slave, maid, or bondage subject was only a minor elevation. Escape from the fields and to a bipedal and intelligence state was a much more drastic promotion and their featly was correspondingly heightened.

Inside the barn were long slender corridors of stone. Along each wall were equally spaced door sized mirrors with a small switch set beside them.

A switch was thrown and one of the sliver panels slid aside into the wall. Candy was roughly yanked into a small featureless chamber.

A single light hung overhead and this spotlight poured a dim radiance down onto what she would be calling home from now on. The walls bore several hooks upon which resided a whip, a flogger, a cane, and a large broad leather paddle. Large corrugated hoses were also set on each wall and were compiled in curled hoops.

The stone plinth that arose from the floor looked like a large ‘X’ with a rectangular hub serving as the apex. The upper surfaces were with padded with cushions of leather but this consideration for comfort was offset by the thick leather straps that had been fastened to the stone and which hung in readiness. As she was brought towards the item, she could see a pair of holes to one end, and a single, smaller pit towards the other.

With rough movements she was brought to the side of the plinth and then simply thrown down face first onto it so that she was staring at the left wall and the pipe that was poised there. Candy gave a croak of distress from the rough landing on her already distended breasts and flashed a look of loathing at the kamube. The women just grinned and released her ankles before hauling them out onto the wide lower ‘v’ of the device. Candy struggled but the Imbe merely stomped forward after grabbing the cane and then rained a trio of strokes into her exposed rear. She squealed and writhed but the women merely laid a knee to her calves and pushed down. The flesh throbbed from their brutality and she shouted for them to stop. The Imbe turned her demand into a wail as he started to thrash her rear with fierce and uncompromising strokes.

A strap caught her ankle and another replaced the female knees in the backs of her legs. A third crossed the tips of her thighs and as one kamube grabbed the chains between her cuffs and tugged upward, the other started to fasten her waist band. Candy’s upper body was forced into the table and her breasts dropped into the two holes. Her shoulders coursed with mayhem and she gave a keening mew of distress as the hold was hoisted upward to improve her pain.

With her lower body captive, the kamube released her cuffs and dragged her arms up and around. Candy again fought to stop them but once more, the cane of the Imbe returned to her burning rear and started to etch effulgent lines of woe across the quaking mounds.

Her wrists were secured, and then so to were her forearms and biceps. The caning stopped and Candy sagged in resignation. Wheezing for breath, she just lay in her bonds and continued to feel the awful pound in her rear.

The Imbe stood poised with his cane and Candy just lay where she was. Suddenly, her head was pulled up by her hair to a degree that caused her mouth to drop open. The kamube then crudely thrust the end of the hose into Candy’s maw before she could react. The item erupted into automated life that caused Candy to test the effectiveness of her bondage to the full. The straps groaned as a keening muted wail fought the inflating bladders that stretched out into her mouth. Her jaws were hauled open, her tongue was barged into the bottom of her mouth, and her cheeks then started to swell outward. Candy hurled herself against her bonds as her mouth seemed to explode with terrible distress. The stretched skin coursed with mayhem and the corners of her jaws raged with ghastly havoc.

‘Nothing more to say, slave?’ crooned the Imbe as Candy threw her head around and tried to spit the item free, but it had swelled to such dimensions that it effectively stopped up her maw. The corrugated pipe swayed from side to side as it reached forth and vanished into the wall but she could not disconnect herself.

Candy’s eyes bulged as the piping on the other side of the room was delivered to her rear and locked into position to leave her again surrendered to the automated processes of these infernal locations. A final strap was pulled over her upper back and yanked to pull her into the surface.

‘You’ll learn obedience here, slave. If you don’t? Well, back to the grazing field you go,’ warned the Imbe and with his assistants in tow he left Candy to her fate.

The door slid shut and she saw that it was formed from one way material. She could see everything that occurred out on the corridor, but no one could see in. She now processed her trip to this room with horror. Every panel she had passed had seen a woman’s despairing eyes fixating on her as they lay spread and invaded in this demeaned isolation.

As the door locked into position Candy snorted and sent a deep humming howl against her terrible gag. Some sort of suction had been established in the holes in which her breasts now resided. Thick rubber with raised internal bands clamped to each hanging mound and squeezed. Her nipples were free of these internal sheaths but then they were afflicted by their own even fiercer haul.

Candy lurched and shrieked as the bands formed a strange form of fist that rolled from the base towards the tip, crushing the flesh before a second and even more vicious suction snatched and hauled at her nipples. Candy could not believe what was happening to her, but was helpless to defeat the process. All she wanted to do was go back to her master, but his rival was making sure she stayed out of his reach until she posed no further threat.

Candy’s concerns about the future were momentarily forgotten when a wet phallic rod rushed forward and buried itself in her pussy. She jerked and then fought afresh as it started to draw back and reveal its own collection of ridges before it again pistoned into her.

The automated ravishing continued with mechanical efficiency, driving deep, pulling back, and repeating. Her pussy was bounced upon the pliant but drastic series of ridges and troughs and her clit ring danced and rattled upon them as she was molested by machines. The pleasure of the assault was actually quite satisfying but the rending hauls at her breasts were not making it easy to enjoy herself.

Suddenly Candy felt the meagre and almost pleasant sensation of pressure draining from her breasts. The machine continued to tug and wring her breasts, but the internal swell was vanishing from her and despite the abuse, Candy started to succumb to the rhapsody.

Laying her head down so that she was watching the upper face of the plinth, she shuddered as the dildo again rampaged into her and the pressure in her breasts continued to vanish. The steady charge of the toy brought her to orgasm but the machine did not stop. Her fight to get free increased as the pleasure started to become more than she could bear and again she was reduced to a maenad of effort when she could give the breast cups no more but regardless, they continued their efforts. Roaring onto her gag and struggling as much as she could, she feared that the machine had broken and would continue to suck at her until she went mad, but it was just being thorough. When the vacuum and dildo stopped and the sheath let go of her tormented assets, Candy collapsed onto her bed and wheezed softly for breath.

The dildo was now curled back into its housing, leaving the lubricant that it had oozed during its rhythmic efforts to drool from her and into the waste pit beneath her loins. Candy retched and found new animation when she felt water being eased into her rear and nourishment into her mouth. Unable to let it go anywhere, she was forced to gulp down the offered sludge as hastily as she could because any excess caused her mouth to stretch wider and her cheeks to bulge to a terrible degree that forced her into instant compliance.

A terrible and yet sumptuous thought struck her. During her time in the Empire, she had seen no cows, and yet she had seen milk and also drunk it herself on several occasions. Had it been dragged from women such as her? When she had sipped at a serving of milk, had it originated from the breast of another human female? One locked and alone in a small room, strapped down, and squealing in pain as she was fucked and sucked dry by this nightmarish production facility?

She laid her head down and closed her eyes, fighting to relax as the image of all those who had been forced to donate so painfully to her continued to creep through her mind.