The purple-haired woman stood still for a moment, her lazy eyes sweeping over the silver coils and the dazed manager trapped inside them.
A soft, lazy smile touched her full lips as she finally noticed the thick sweetness still clinging to the air.
"Ah… so that's what this sticky feeling is, is it yours?"
With a small, almost bored flick of her fingers, a soft wave of clear energy rolled out from her body.
Strong winds generated out of nowhere, sweeping across the entire hall.
In less than a second, every trace of the pheromones inside the hall was wiped away.
The thick, sweet pheromones that were drowning the crowd simply vanished. People blinked, some gasping as the sudden clear air hit their lungs.
The burning need between their legs cooled a little, though many still looked flushed and shaky.
The Empress also felt the change at once. The rich flow of empathic energy she was absorbing suddenly slowed.
Her newborn mind did not understand magic, only that the good feeling was being taken away.
A low, warning hiss rose from her throat. The woman only smiled.
She raised one hand and made a gentle wave, as if brushing dust from a sleeve.
Invisible force wrapped around the Empress's long body. The heavy silver coils locked in place.
The snake tried to tighten around the manager, tried to move her head, but her muscles would not obey.
"Hisss… Hiss!" She was held still like a living statue, only her tongue able to flick in and out in confusion.
Anger mixed with the hunger. She wanted to thrash, to coil tighter, to take more, but the invisible power held her firm.
Inside the snake coils, the auction manager cried softly towards the purple haired women.
Without the pheromones clouding her thoughts, she could feel everything more clearly: the cool, smooth scales pressing under her breasts, lifting and separating them, the firm rings sliding against the soft skin of her stomach, and the heavy pressure that kept her thighs slightly open.
Her dark-green dress was wrinkled and wet between her legs.
Every tiny shift of the Empress's body rubbed the silver hide against her sensitive folds, sending slow sparks of leftover pleasure through her body.
Her nipples stayed hard against the cool scales. She bit her lower lip, a soft, shaky moan slipping out even as fear mixed with the unwanted heat.
"P-please…" she whispered, voice thick. "I… I can't… Miss.. Save me!!"
The purple-haired woman ignored the plea.
She began walking toward the platform with slow, unhurried steps.
Her luxurious purple robe swayed open with each movement, giving clear views of the soft inner curves of her breasts, the smooth plane of her stomach, and the long, toned legs that flashed through the high slits.
She stepped onto the platform and came right up to the snake's large head.
Her eyes never left the Empress.
Slowly she lifted one hand and placed her warm palm flat between the snake's eyes. Her fingertips traced the smooth, cool surface in small, deliberate circles, feeling every fine ridge of the beautiful scales.
"What a beautiful snake," she murmured, voice low and almost intimate. The warmth of her hand sank into the sensitive scales. "Look at you… so bright and full of life… I didn't expect to meet such a rare species in these remote areas!"
She stroked again, slower this time, her thumb brushing over the scales just above the snake's nostrils.
The Empress could only stare back with wide vertical pupils, body locked, the soft pressure of that warm hand sending strange, confusing sparks through her mind.
"Why don't you stay with me?" the woman asked, leaning a little closer so her soft breath touched the silver scales.
A small, teasing smile curved her full lips. "A spirit beast like you shouldn't be left in a dirty place like this. Don't you think?"
The two acolytes at the edge of the platform watched with strange eyes, their half-dressed bodies still under the slight effect of the earlier pleasure.
The brunette's breath came short.
Her skirt was still loosely tied, the soft skin of her inner thighs faintly shiny. The black-haired woman's hands trembled as she stared at the way the woman's fingers kept caressing their Master's head.
A low heat still pulsed between her legs, leftover from the thick pheromones that had soaked her earlier.
On the other hand, the snake's simple thoughts turned slowly, mixed with the lingering hunger and the new, confusing warmth of that soft hand.
The snake didn't understand clearly what the woman was speaking.
But she felt no hostility from the soft hand or the calm presence. No sharp killing intent.
Only a warm, steady touch and a lazy confidence that pressed against her scales.
So she let her guard down.
Her locked muscles loosened a little under the invisible hold. Reina's smile widened when she felt the body relax under her palm.
"Good girl," she murmured, almost to herself. Her fingers stroked along the smooth brow ridge, then down toward the sensitive scales near the eyes. "You can feel it, can't you? I'm not here to hurt you."
She leaned even closer. The open front of her deep purple robe shifted, giving a clear view of the soft inner curves of her full breasts and the smooth skin of her stomach.
Long light-purple hair brushed against the silver scales like silk.
The scent of her body, slightly sweet, with a trace of expensive perfume, drifted over the snake's snout.
"In fact," Reina said, her voice dropping into a playful, almost intimate tone, "it doesn't matter if you accept it or not… you're already in my hands… hehe."
She tapped the snake's head once more, then rested her entire soft palm flat against the cool forehead.
"From now on you are staying with me. Remember, my name's Reina Dalwyn… and you will follow me from now on."
A new simulator prompt appeared in front of Alex's awareness, which was still experiencing everything from inside the snake's mind.
[ Day 68: Memory Point Two – Second Order Wizard Reina Dalwyn!! ]
Reina straightened a little, still smiling as her free hand rose.
Soft blue-white mana gathered at her fingertips, glowing like liquid moonlight. She began to draw in the air just above the snake's broad head.
A magic circle took shape, line by glowing line. Complex runes and soft curves formed a wide disc of light that hovered for a moment, then slowly sank downward.
The circle pressed against the silver scales and sank into the skin without resistance.
It flowed along the length of the huge body, wrapping the twenty-five-meter length in faint glowing lines that pulsed in time with Reina's calm breathing.
The snake felt the foreign energy enter her.
It was not painful. It felt warm, almost gentle, but irresistible.
She tried to twist, to push the glowing lines away with her own power, but the opponent's strength was leagues beyond hers.
The invisible force that already held her body simply tightened. Her coils trembled once, then went still again.
"Shhh… easy," Reina whispered, her voice soft and coaxing. "Don't fight it. You'll only tire yourself."
The glowing circle finished sinking into the silver hide. A final bright rune settled right between the snake's brows.
Then the shrinking began.
It started at the tip of the long tail.
The thick silver body began to pull inward, scales sliding over each other with a soft, continuous whisper of sound.
The large body that had completely filled the center of the auction hall contracted, drawn into a smaller shape.
The coils around the manager loosened completely as the girth reduced.
The woman in the green dress staggered free, her legs weak, one hand pressed between her thighs as if she could still feel the cool pressure of the scales.
Her face was flushed dark with leftover lust and sudden embarrassment. She stumbled back several steps, staring.
"Master…!" the brunette cried, taking a half-step forward. The brunette and the black-haired woman both gasped.
But they were just ordinary people and couldn't do anything but watch.
The shrinking continued steadily. Twenty-five meters of thick, powerful body drew inward. The waist-thick coils became thinner, then thinner still.
The large head lowered as the length reduced to ordinary in size.
The snake tried one last time to resist. A weak pulse of her own mana pushed against the magic circle. It was like a child pushing against a stone wall. Nothing moved.
So, she stopped struggling and simply let the change happen.
Within less than a minute, the transformation finished into an ordinary-looking silver-white snake, no longer than 1.5 meters long, body about as thick as a woman's wrist.
Her scales still shone with the same clean, living silver light.
Her vertical pupils still held the same quiet intensity. But her physical size was now that of a common, if unusually beautiful, serpent.
Reina knelt gracefully, her revealing robe parting further over her long legs as she did so.
She held out both hands, palms up, and the silver-white snake was lifted by the same gentle force that had controlled her before.
The small body settled across Reina's soft forearms and against the warm curve of her full breasts.
The snake felt no change in her actual strength, the hunger for empathic energy, or the newly awakened senses; all of it remained the same.
Only its body was reduced to a normal size.
"There we go. Much more convenient." Reina stroked one finger slowly along the silver head, smiling down at her.