Lily was almost there. Demons had descended on their city, but she wasn't about to let them take it over. Her armor was cut and broken, upper thighs and one shoulder exposed. But she didn't care. Nothing was going to stop her from getting rid of these things. Her sword glowed proudly with the demon cleansing light of her royal family and it vaporized her attackers one after another. Now, for their throne room. They had taken the king's, her father's throne, and turned it into a blackened, violet jeweled monstrosity, no longer fit for a king, but an overlord. She had been separated from everyone, the only one strong enough to press this far. This was it. If she could beat the monster that had brought all of these things here, then she could tear them all up by the root, taking their foundation away and driving them from her fair city.
I won't lose,
Lily iterated to herself, and swung the massive doors of the throne room open.
It was nothing like it looked before. All the banners looked like they had been shredded by massive claws. Even the walls had sets of serrated, parallel cuts in them, whatever made them clearly strong enough to cleave stone. The once royal red carpet had been replaced with one that was black and sooty, as if they had taken the old one and burned it, fashioning a new one out of the ashes. Lily swallowed, but pressed on, the glow of her sword lighting the dimmed room, a few torches holding hands with the edges of its light.
"Hello, warrior princess," a deep, emanating voice filled the room as if it spoke from the empty space itself.
"You," Lily gripped her sword. "You're the demon lord that brought these hell spawn here!"
"I did," the voice said. "Do you like the improvements we've made?"
"Take your cretins and flee, foul creature!" Lily shouted, eyes flicking, scanning her surroundings. "Your scum will be purged by the light of my sacred sword." There was a pondering silence and for a moment Lily wondered if she really had scared him off. Perhaps this demon lord knew that he stood no chance against the power in her sword, blessed by angels.
"Hmm, a paltry display," the voice said. "Your lack of affection is noted." There was a whooshing sound, wind in the throne room picking up and swirling. With its currents it carried shadows, snakes of black mist hissing, drawn to a point. Lily faced that point as the shadows gathered, mixing into a mass. They came to a rather amorphous form, one that looked like the silhouette of a mountain on fire, blackness its only feature other than two white, angular eyes, large absences through which this creature saw the world.
"You..." Lily grit her teeth. It wasn't the form she was expecting. His demons were ugly, imp-like creatures with sharp teeth and bat-like wings. He was like a piece of shadow ripped deep from a cavernous well, cold and unseen.
"Yes, me." the shadow said. "I am Belial, a king of hell. And now your kingdom...is mine."
"What did you do with my father!" Lily shouted, "the real king!"
"I showed him the darkness," Belial said, "and he gave me his crown."
"Liar! Give him back!" Lily leapt forward, sword shining in an arching slash that split the shadow in two, eye's separated by a line of cleaving light. She had gone right through him. She looked back. But nothing. The two halves reformed and rather than turn around, the monster's eyes melted through his body and reformed on the other side.
"I can smell the angel's stink from here," he snarled. "But, while that sword may melt the legions at my disposal, to me...it is merely a stick." A shadow like a whip shot from Belial. It smacked Lily, breastplate cracking as she soared backward. Something came to meet her. It caught her and she flopped down as if sitting in a chair.
"Wh-" It all happened so fast. There were two clangs. Suddenly her wrists and ankles were shackled in place. She pulled as hard as she could, but couldn't move. Was that really it? Her ceremonial armor and her father's sword had been enough to get her this far, but this demon was the real deal and of her sword, thought nothing. She held it still, firm in her grasp as the demon's amorphous form towered over her, glaring down with his empty eyes.
"You won't be needing that anymore," he said. A strand of shadow reached out and grabbed her sword by the blade. It hissed in its grip, but it didn't let go. Lily held on as hard as she could, but the shadow twisted her wrist and wrenched it away.
"No!" Lily shouted, watching the sword impale the floor, blade first, standing up. It looked like it was just waiting to be drawn again, but it was so far out of reach. Lily was stuck. Looking down, her wrists were restrained by shackles to the blackened throne.
"You won't be needing this anymore either." A strand of darkness reached out and tapped her cracked breastplate. The whole set melted away. It dissolved into a black ooze and ran off her like water, leaving Lily entirely nude.
"Ah!" Lily squirmed. But she couldn't cover herself. She wasn't particularly buff, and all her borrowed power had been taken away. She was rather petite, small breasts, hardly a handful, a small, slender form now pinned under this great, dark shadow.
"What is this?" Lily squirmed. "Give me my clothes back, demon!"
"Perhaps I will," Belial said. "I'm going to make you the same deal I made your father. If you can resist the darkness, then I will give you back your kingdom."
"Resist the..." Lily paused. "What does that mean?"
"It means I'm going to show you the darkness," Belial said. "Your darkness. The darkness hiding deep in that breast of yours. The shadows you are hiding." A shadowy hand stretched out from the towering blackness. Floating just above its palm was a black crown, jeweled with violet gems just like the throne. "This crown will show you your darkest desires. If you can resist, you win. But...if you succumb... then one more slave will be added to this darkened keep."
"What makes you think I'll- ah!" Lily stopped as the crown was placed on her head, black tendrils snaking from its surface and into the skin on her forehead.
"You do not have a choice," Belial growled. "Now let's see if you can resist the darkness."
"Ahh!" Lily shrieked, and her vision went white.
"Huh?" Lily was suddenly in a field somewhere else. It was a vast, empty plain, something familiar it seemed she had traversed many times on her travels between kingdoms. "Hya!" She covered herself with her arms, realizing she was still naked.
"I wouldn't worry about that," Belial's voice said. "Your visions can't see you...yet."
"Visions?" Lily repeated. She felt at her head. The crown was gone, but she knew this must have been some sort of illusion it brought on. She would have to be on guard.
"Yes," Belial said, his voice somewhere outside of everything. "Now bear witness to your darkest thoughts...and face them." Lily caught sight of someone else, still covering herself. But the person was familiar. It was her. She was walking to greet someone, someone she knew, dressed in his royal robes.
"Oh?" Belial murmured. "Who is that?"
"That's Prince Belen," Lily said, mostly to herself. He was a prince from a kingdom neighboring her own. He was handsome, dark hair and dreamy blue eyes. His gaze made her melt, especially when he greeted her so cordially. She watched herself approach him and he did his greeting, taking her by the hand with a soft bow, always looking right into her eyes when he did it. Even from afar Lily felt like she might swoon. But then her other self actually melted in front of the prince.
"What?" Lily said. The space around her went dark. When it relit, it was the same plain, but now the prince was leading her along, hand on a rope that led to and was tied around her neck. She was naked, walking bashfully along behind him, hips pushed forward in her walk, pussy dripping onto the grass.
"Wh-" Lily watched in awe. "What is this? The prince would never do this to me!"
