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Lucifer woke up in a dimly lit room, her vision blurry and her head throbbing. She couldn’t move, her body tied down to a metal table. A profound numbness spread across her bare back as the cold steel pressed against it. A turn of her head revealed an unsettling assortment of medical tools, each smeared with blood.
Wait, is that… my blood?
She then turned her head the other way and squinted her eyes. Across the room, she saw a figure dressed in white. She opened her mouth to speak, but only a rough and dry sound emerged, her throat feeling raw and tight. Lucifer intently watched the back of the figure, her eyes drawn to the prominent white horns.
Could it possibly be Beelzebub?
Lucifer’s question was answered when the figure turned around and began advancing in her direction.
“Oh, you’re awake!” Loremaster’s voice had a chipper tone as she approached Lucifer, her eyes lingering on the woman’s face, which twisted with growing dismay.
“Azazel?” Lucifer’s voice was as soft as a mouse’s squeak.
Memories flooded her mind, recalling the intensity of their fierce battle. Just as Lucifer was poised to land the decisive blow on Azazel, concluding their prolonged conflict, her ex-acolyte seized the opportunity and bested her while her guard was down. Her last memory was a terrifying dual image: plunging from a cliff’s edge and the sharp agonizing impact with the jagged rocks beneath impaling both women. Lucifer wondered how Azazel remained completely unfazed by the injury, as her regeneration abilities shouldn’t have allowed for such rapid recovery. The more pressing question, however, was the reason behind Lucifer’s failed regeneration.
Loremaster loomed over Lucifer, a sly smile playing on her lips, a smile that would forever haunt Lucifer.
Loremaster gently lifted the other woman’s chin, her fingers brushing against her skin, tilting her head to get a better look at the incision and stitches on the back of her neck.
“The surgery seems successful,” she mused, the metallic snap of her fingers echoed as the clamps released Lucifer’s limbs.
Lucifer’s initial response was to strike Loremaster, but she was held back. She found herself completely paralyzed, save for the movement of her head. With a suppressed giggle, the younger woman hid her beaming smile behind her hand.
“T-tell me, what is it you’ve done to me!?” Loremaster’s laughter intensified after Lucifer spoke.
“I took out parts of your spinal cord and replaced them,” Loremaster said casually, holding a piece of metal that gleamed with an angelic glow. Lucifer immediately recognized the material and was taken aback. “I’ve strategically placed fragments of this to hinder your healing as well.”
Lucifer struggled with every ounce of her strength to make her body obey, but it was ultimately in vain. Below her head, she was rendered entirely immobile. She found herself utterly powerless, a feeling unlike before, having been bested and made the focus of a morbid scientific endeavour.
“Don’t worry,” Loremaster reassured her, producing a remote from the pocket of her lab coat. “With this little doodad, I can bring your body to life at will!”
A small laugh escaped her lips again as Lucifer could only stare back. “That said, the prerequisite is that I fit you with a collar!”
Next to the tray of bloody medical supplies, Loremaster picked up a collar and fastened it around Lucifer’s neck.
Designed for security purposes, the collar would deliver an electric shock if Lucifer planned to physically harm Loremaster, but the younger demon also wasn’t above zapping the older demon just for fun. Lucifer had no control and was being converted into a pet.
“There we are!” Loremaster proudly tightened Lucifer’s collar, pulling it sharply, causing the older woman to wince.
With a click of the remote, Loremaster returned Lucifer full control of her body. She then moved back, giving the woman on the table room to rise. With a return of sensation to her limbs, Lucifer found herself facing Loremaster, her grin spoke of her amusement.
Lucifer’s fist clenched, and in a moment of foolishness, she tried to strike the younger demon—a jolt of electricity from the collar sent her to her knees, her fingers desperately clawing at the device.
A sadistic smile graced Loremaster’s lips as she watched her ex-mentor desperately struggle to pull the collar off; she savoured the display of pain. Reaching into the inner pocket of her lab coat, Loremaster withdrew a collapsible baton, which she then promptly extended.
The older woman cried out as the younger one struck her back, the collar continuing to send painful jolts through her. Lying on the floor, Lucifer attempted to rise, only to be pushed back down by Loremaster’s boot.
“Simply obey me,” Loremaster instructed sharply, her words crystal clear.
Lucifer felt the firm, biting pressure of Loremaster’s heel as the collar’s jolt lessened, providing a fleeting reprieve. She turned to the younger woman, her smile gone, replaced by a chilling emptiness that was more frightening than any rage.
Loremaster crouched down, her robotic fingers gently gripping Lucifer’s chin so she could meet her gaze once more.
“You’re a prisoner within your own body, and you belong to me now. Is that clear?” Loremaster’s voice was flat and unfeeling.
Lucifer was stunned, finally grasping the reality of her situation. She was no longer the queen of Hell, having been defeated by Azazel and reduced to a mere war trophy. Lucifer felt another blow, this time from Loremaster’s robotic hand—a warm stream of blood began to flow from her nose. The sight of blood on the floor brought another wave of realization about her weakened state; the pain was a constant throb, not a fleeting sensation that healed away.
“Is that clear?” Loremaster repeated once more to Lucifer, noticing the blood on her knuckles as she looked back at a stunned Lucifer.
“Y-yes master…”