The further we descended, the more the illusion of the harem life crumbled. Cletus didn't lead me to a love hotel or a hidden manor, he dragged me down a rusted iron ladder into the bowels of the 5th District, the sewers.
The reek was instantaneous and stomach-turning. The smell of raw waste, damp rot, and stagnant water clung to the mossy stone walls. Torchlight flickered weakly against the curved ceilings, reflecting off the dark, slow-moving sludge in the center channel. It was the same scent from Tata, but a more stronger smell that was likely Cletus was hiding a body there.
"Not what you expected, princess? The Bureau doesn't look for gold in the gutters. Down here, I'm more than a man. I'm a king."
We navigated a maze of dripping water pipes and rusted grates until we reached a heavy, reinforced wooden door built into a brick alcove. This was his room, a literal hole in the city's plumbing converted into a den of vice.
Two hulking men with rusted hatchets stood guard at the entrance. They looked at my Elodie form with hungry eyes, but Cletus growled, pulling me closer to his side.
"Keep your eyes on the tunnels, I don't want any interruptions. Not for the next few hours. If a rat so much as twitches toward this door, kill it."
"Yes, Boss," one of them grunted,
The heavy door creaked open, and Cletus shoved me inside. The room was sparsely furnished, a stained mattress, a table littered with half-empty bottles, and the faint, rhythmic drip-drip-drip of a leaking pipe overhead. The dripping pipe trigged my PTSD from the cellar in Tata.
The door slammed shut behind us, the heavy iron bolt sliding into place with a definitive clack. We were alone. The guards were outside, the sewage was rushing below, and Cletus was already unbuckling his heavy leather belt, his tanned face twisted into a mask of pure, predatory lust.
"Finally, Now, let's see if that pretty face can scream as well as the girls told me."
I stood in the center of the room, my back to him. The "Elodie" mask was still perfect, my blonde hair shimmering in the dim light. But beneath the skin, the S-rank magic was screaming. The blood in the room, his blood, the blood on the floor, the blood in my own veins, began to vibrate.
I didn't scream. I didn't beg. I slowly turned around, and for the first time, I let the innocent expression on Elodie's face melt away, replaced by a cold, hollow void that made the air in the room drop ten degrees.
"Undress young lad, let's see what you're made of." Cletus said in a perverted tone, he even licks his lips out of pure excitement.
The room felt like a tomb. Cletus leaned against the table, his eyes tracing every inch of the Elodie form I had stolen. He was so blinded by his own lust that he couldn't see the predator standing right in front of him.
I began the performance.
With a trembling hand, a fake tremor, born of mastery rather than fear, I reached for the buttons of the dress. One by one, I let the fabric slip. Cletus's breathing grew heavy, his dihh is growing like a tree branch. He was so distracted by the sight of innocent Elodie undressing that he didn't notice the shadows in the room beginning to thicken. He didn't notice the moisture in the air, the condensation on the pipes, turning a dark, bruised crimson.
"That's it, sweetheart, don't be shy. I told you, I'm going to make this a night to remember."
I let the dress fall to the floor. I stood there, looking like the perfect, fragile blonde girl he desired. He reached out a calloused hand to touch my cheek, his fingers inches from my skin.
"Now," I whispered.
The transition was instantaneous. I didn't need to move a muscle. I activated my blood sword from my hand and sliced him in the throat.
"Bahhhh… damn you bitch!"
Cletus's eyes suddenly bugged out of his head. He tried to scream, but I seized the blood in his throat, hardening it into a crimson gag that choked the sound back into his lungs. I dug the blade deeper until he passed out.
Before he could even fall, I reached into the sword where my blood-wings usually sat and pulled out a jagged blade of solidified ichor. With one clean, his head was separated from his shoulders before a single drop of blood could hit the floor. I caught the head by the hair, the expression of pure, frozen terror still etched onto his tanned, scarred face.
Suddenly, one of the guards fell suspicious outside of our room.
"Hey lovebirds, whatcha doing here? Are you alright?"
As they were open the door, I tried to play out, with the risk of being detected, I lend out a loud moan and some dirty words, hoping to get back.
"Ugh… Ugh… Daddy." I blushed.
Then the guards didn't open and instead said some rude comments about me.
"Nice job Boss, if your done, were next to try that pussy."
While they were talking about me, Plasma steps in and joins.
"Hahahahaha… Eirene, seriously?"
"Oh my god, we were trying not to get caught."
"Hahahahaha… come one Eirene, instead of bringing up Cassius, you did it to a commoner's body."
"Shut up." I said with Elodie's voice.
I pulled the burlap bag from my discarded clothes and shoved the prize inside. The body of the king of the sewers slumped over like a sack of grain, silent and pathetic.
Now came the second part of the plan.
I knelt over the headless corpse, draining his blood and successfully copied his DNA.
[Drain Activated Extraction Completed consumed four liters]
[DNA copied, you can shapeshift into Cletus Roman]
"Plasma, shapeshift me into, Cletus this instant."
[Analyzing genetic data... 100% match found in blood reservoir. Commencing Morphological Shift.]
The Elodie form dissolved. My blonde hair darkened and coarsened; my frame expanded, muscles bulging beneath my skin, the jagged scar sliced itself across my face. Within seconds, I wasn't a girl in a sewer. I was Cletus Roman.
[Visual confirmation: 100% accuracy. Heart rate, scent, and vocal cords successfully calibrated. Successfully shapeshifted into Cletus Roman]
I wore his heavy leather coat and buckled his belt, tucking the burlap bag, now heavy and dripping slightly, beneath the folds of the cloak. I adjusted the voice box in my throat, testing the gravelly rumble.
"Change of plans, boys," I muttered in Cletus's exact voice.
I slid the iron bolt back and swung the door open. The two guards turned, blinking at me.
"Boss? That was fast," one of them joked, leaning against his hatchet.
"She was boring, I'm heading out to get some real ale. Don't go in there. She's... sleeping. If you wake her, I'll have your ears." I said
"Wait, I heard her moaning like crazy, what'll do to her?" one guard questions
"Her pussy is tight, super tight that my eight-inch dick didn't fit. You can try her if you want."
"Negative, Boss. I would never."
I walked away into the darkness of the tunnels, the weight of the B-rank bounty in my hand and a cold, satisfied void in my chest. The lamb had eaten the wolf, and now, Cletus Roman was walking right out of his own front door to deliver his own head to the Bureau.