Degraded to Human bait (Shield Hero Myne Snake monster TF) Draft

“This can’t be happening… This is insane…” Myne panted, finally able to get some alone time in her own room at the inn that the spear hero paid for. She was still between shock and disbelief about what had just happened, with a bit of anger mixed in there as well. Outside the window she could see guards getting mobilized and shouting to each other. 

“There has been an emergency at the church!”

“What happened?!?”

“Apparently a whole bunch of demihumans have appeared to take over the building. And allegedly they even have monsters at their side.”

“What?!? How could that happen?!?”

“Doesn’t matter for now. We have to contain the damages! Follow me!”

The soldiers might not know how it happened, but Myne sure did. She was present at the church when it happened after all. Although even she didn’t fully understand what happened either, it was just too wild…

It was just meant to be a small visit to the church for a bit of her future plans. The Shield devil had just been declared the most valuable hero to triumph over the second wave, which is utterly preposterous for so many different high ranking officials. So of course she had to put her part into this as well, to make sure the Shield devil falls and she gets to be Queen of Melromarc when the time comes. Even if she had to put some little blue haired interference down first.

But when the pope made a pointless prayer, suddenly an orange haired, dark skinned young woman in a black kimono sat on their table, appearing from what Myne could only explain to herself as dark smoke and not some sort of teleportation magic. And that’s when everything went to shit.

The girl brazenly introduced herself as the goddess that oversees this land and asked how she may be of assistance. Then the pope fucked up royally by feeling attacked by her claming that she was a goddess. Who knew that guy had such a big god complex himself? Remembering him talk made Myne honestly feel sick.

Although that's when that Orange haired girl somehow managed to shut him up. And with no more than a little hand gesture no less. Myne remembers her words afterwards quite clearly, as they rang throughout the building with a force that she never felt before. 

“I have no use for corrupt followers that believe in religion just to enforce their will over others. Use my name to give others hope and not for selfish gains. Support the heroes so that they can take on the dangers. Anyone who goes against these rules is no better than a monster!”

With those words, she vanished, leaving everyone stunned. The pope complained about her the moment he could again, but that's when even stranger things started to happen. Unbelievable things even. 

The more the pope complained, the more he transformed into a beast. At first just houndlike ears, then a tail, then he grew in size and gained an extra pair of arms. It just became worse and worse for him, until he just barely and vaguely resembled his former self. The other priests followed suit. And the nuns too. The more they tried to prevent it, the worse it got for all of them.

That's when Myne took the opportunity to run away. 

And now she was here, in her room, absolutely dumbfounded. All she could do is mumble to herself now that she finally had a moment alone.

“There is no way that this could have been a trick or bluff, I saw the Pope transform into a beast right in front of my eyes!” She said, trying to make sense of anything. “What sort of magic can even do that? There shouldn’t be, right?”

Brainstorming her knowledge yielded nothing, she had never seen nor heard of anything even remotely similar happening at all. The more she thought about it, the less sense it made. It really looked like a real goddess descended and punished those who abused her name, like some sort of virtuous overseer would.

“What utter nonsense!” Myne declared, immediately brushing that ridiculous thought out of her head. “As if a goddess like that could be real. Religion is a means to control uneducated people and anyone who thinks otherwise clearly hasn't accepted reality yet. Or is simply a sheep meant to be controlled.”

Spitting facts out loud made Myne feel significantly better. Regaining her confidence, she stepped in front of the mirror in her room, hands on her hips to call out on the foolish girl. “There, I insulted your precious religion. Where is your punishment now, goddess?”

“You are no better than a monster.”

That was the exact moment Myne’s confidence crumpled completely. She could feel her body shake and tremble as heat she never felt before entered her entire system. She felt sick and wrong, yet couldn't make much effort to move. Rather, it felt like she was forced to stare at her own reflection to see what she was becoming. 

The first thing she noticed was her pupils, pulsing and contorting, warping her vision in weird ways too. They slimmed down until nothing but a thin slit was left, which made them look disgustingly inhuman. At the same time she felt like someone was pulling her ears to the side, even if she knew that there was no other person in the room. They also deformed, becoming longer, redder and pointier, growing much more in line with those of Demihumans, of all things. 

And finally there was a pain in her canine teeth, like they were growing as well. Longer, sharper and pointier, so long in fact that she couldn't even hide them inside of her mouth anymore. She would just hurt herself. So now even with her mouth closed, everyone could see those disgusting inhuman teeth, on top of her long ears and slit eyes. 

That's when the heat finally let up.

“N…no way…” Myne moaned, even more shocked than she already was. The goddess cursed her too, didn’t she? 

How was she supposed to become queen now?

Hide the ears? That might be possible but how about the eyes and the teeth? There is no way she would be running around with a mask for the rest of her life. 

But there was one thing she knew for sure.

“I get it! I get it! I won't insult your greatness ever again! I’ll become a faithful follower of your greatness! Please turn me back!” Myne pleaded, hoping that the goddess would still hear her. 

No response.

Great…

Even if Myne’s call to be a faithful follower was less than insincere, there was one thing she did silently vow however. That church is doomed to fall with that curse. She won't be dealing with any affairs with that damn pope ever again. That's for sure.

“The heroes have already been alarmed. They should aid us in getting the situation under control shortly.” She heard one of the guards declaring outside, making her newly elongated ear twitch. And even though the thought of not having human ears anymore was repugnant to her, she tried to keep her mind off it by listening to the guards outside some more. 

“Who is coming?”

“The spear hero is already in action and the bow hero is on its way. No one could get a hold of the sword hero however. And It also seemed like the shield hero was nearby as well.”

“The shield hero…?” Myne repeated, as an idea started to bloom in her mind. “This might just be… acceptable. Hehehe…”

Immediately, Myne rushed out of the building, darting towards the guards with her best exasperated expression she could possibly muster. The guards that were just about to leave, spotted her and halted, just like good loyal guards should do. Gave her a good opportunity to put on an act.

“P-please! Help me!” Myne whined, freezing both guards in place.

“W-what happened?!? Is that you, Princess Malty?” One of the guards asked.

“Yes! Something horrible just happened at the church!” Myne continued, almost pulling on the one guard's armor. “F-follow me! The culprit can't be far off. Everyone deserves to know!”

It didn’t take long at all until they all were close to the church again as well as more and more guards started to gather around them. Once the captain of the guard showed up, Myne knew it was time for her to put on a show again.

“Princess! If you know anything about what's going on here, please share it.” The captain asked, to which Myne looked at him with fake teary eyes.

“I don’t know everything that's transpired, but it seemed like a curse has been placed on anyone that was inside the church just now.” she cried, pointing to her own ears as all the guards gasped. “It does something never before seen. I have no explanation for it, but it seems to turn anyone affected into monsters!”

“Is there a cure? Also who would do a thing like that?!?” The guard captain retorted, visibly enraged by the revelation. Myne couldn't help but smile for a brief second.

“I don’t know if there is a cure for it out there, but I know for a fact who is behind this mess.” Myne spoke, gesturing grandly. “It was none other than the Devil of the Shield that placed this curse upon us all!”

Though as Myne reveled in the moment of pinning this event on the shield hero once again…

“Time to make your appearance reflect your inner monster some more.”

There was the dreaded voice again, the voice of that goddess in black. Myne didn’t fully understand why the goddess curse had activated again, but she could feel the inhumanly heat return to her body. Especially around her legs.

“Princess Malty, are you okay?” A guard asked, to which Myne grit her teeth. 

“The curse… Is grabbing more hold of me… Ah~” Myne involuntarily moaned for the first time in forever, as she felt her balance become more and more unstable. 

Her legs felt like they were being pulled away from her and resisted very little, causing them to elongate and weaken. The armor around her legs broke away completely once they doubled in length, which is when Myne noticed that more was happening than just her legs getting longer. They were fusing, becoming one continuous mass that stretched now to almost three times the length her legs had previously been.

She dropped to her knees a while back, but now she was no longer sure where her knees even were. Everything was just one continuous stang of muscles, one which reptile-like scales quickly started to make their home on. Not long after that her entire lower body had been replaced with that of a snakes, and with a tail around eight times the size of her upper body. 

“Dear god…” The guard captain gasped, having watched the entire transformation along with the rest of the guards.

“S-See?!” Myne gasps, seriously out of breath from the change in her lower half. “We need to… stop…”

“You three! Take the princess and move her into custody somewhere safe! Make sure this curse does not affect her any further! The rest of us are going after the Devil of the shield!” The Guard captain commanded, to which all the guards saluted.

“Yes sir!”

“Wait, what!” Myne asked, flabbergasted. “No way I am going into custody! Forget it!”

“It’s only for the best. As long as we don’t know what that curse entails, it's better to keep an eye on everyone that's affected.”

“Screw that!” As the other three guards were trying to seize her, Myne lashed out with her tail, knocking all of them back, as she herself backed off. “I’m not going into custody! Even if I have to go after the Shield myself, you won't stop me!”

With an angry hiss that Myne didn’t even know she could make, she swatted the rest of the guards out of the way, then made a break for it. Only after she had begun moving had she noticed how different her body acted compared to before. She hissed, she had fangs and her tail moved in a rhythmic slithering motion, making her nimble and fast, at the cost of much of her dignity.

There was no pretending anymore. Nothing about that was human. And no matter how much it pissed her off, she could kind of understand the people who pointed and shouted “monster” at her. There was little she could do besides fleeing the capital now. As long as she couldn't find a way to reverse this mess of a curse, she would only be hunted like a common monster. And the thought of that infuriated her to no end.

The good part was that Myne knew the city like the back of her hand, so finding the quickest way to lose the guards and get out of the city was child's play. Although to be real, the guards also looked like they were more concerned about cornering the Shield hero and containing the monsters in the church itself, than following her. Which was something that came in really convenient for the half snake princess on the run.

“With what do I deserve this?!?” Myne punched a nearby tree, finally having made it out of the city and into the woods nearby. “This is all that damn popes fault! And that damn goddess! I am no monster! I am a human! A princess! A Queen! Damnit!!!”

It took quite a bit until she finally calmed down and could think straight again. It's been a long while since she has been so frustrated at something. And although it was hard for her, she tried to take a few deep breaths again. “Haa… Haa… I have to start thinking on how to proceed. I might be stuck as a snek for now, but I won’t be giving up on becoming the queen. I won’t!”

And just when she said that, she heard a voice in the distance. A very familiar voice. A voice she would recognize anywhere.

“Stop right there, Shield hero! You will turn back and apologize to the king at once!” Princess Melty demanded, her carriage having stopped the shield Hero’s in the middle of the lone road near the forest. The shield demon only sighed.

However, while the Shield replied, Mynes attention was drawn to something else. 

The guards behind Melty… she knew them. Those were her guards. And they didn’t exactly look pleased following the little pipsqueak of a princess. In fact, they looked like…

“Heh. It seems like my men are taking action faster than expected~” Myne sang, happy that at least one thing seemed to go her way. From behind the cover of a tree, she watched as one of the guards stormed towards Melty with drawn sword in an attempt to end that problem of Myne’s once and for all.

Clank!

“What the…?! This damn devil!!!” Myne hissed under her breath, as the strike got deflected by the shield Devil as he took the little princess under his wing. The guard didn’t look like he would give up from one failed attempt luckily, but the element of surprise was completely gone.

“Those imbeciles!” Myne cursed as she tried to come up with something to salvage the situation. It looked like it was turning into an all out fight between the Shield devil party and the guards. And worse even, the guards looked like they were losing. If only there was a way to distract the shield devil so that the guard can get a clean hit in.

“Wind magic!” Myne suddenly gasped, immediately putting her arm forward. “As source of thy power, I order thee…”

“After all, you are nothing but a monster yourself. Inside and out.”

“Decipher the laws of nature and…” Myne desperately attempted to continue with the chant, although the heat was becoming unbearable. It focused extremely hard on the area between her legs… or where that would have been if she still had them. Something was pushing forward, which gave her the wrong idea at first. 

It was way bigger than what her dirty mind has raced too, and harder too. It looked like another limb at first, but that's when eyes blinked open at the sides of it, as well as a mouth opened up in the middle. 

At that point all of her concentration was pretty much gone, as her eyes darted back and forth between her arm where she charged a wind spell and the massive snake head that was growing right below her. It gave her trouble breathing. And talking. 

“Ugh… and cut down my enemies… Ack… with a blade of wind!” Myne’s entire body tensed up in a way she had never felt before. She finished the chant, but at the same time she felt her entire snake half being loaded like a spring. A thought flashed through her head of her noticing the coiling tail wasn’t coiling of her own volition. She felt like she would explode any moment now.

“Nothing will stop me, not even this stupid curse!” Myne shouted, aiming at the fighting Party in the distance. “Die Shield devil! Wind Blade!”

Whoooosh!

ZAMBOOONK!

“...”

“...”

“...Ouch.” Myne was slowly coming to again. It seemed like she passed out, although she wasn’t entirely sure from what. Although one glance around told her at least part of the story.

Her snake mouth was stuck on the tree bark that she hid behind. There was also quite a dent in the tree right on the height of where her head would be. And to top it all off, not to far away from her was a medium sized slash in the ground, most likely caused by wind magic. Not to mention that neither the guards nor the shield devil were on the road anymore. She must have been out for at least a little while.

Or in other words, adding all the context clues together, to say that she failed with firing her magic at the devil was an understatement. 

“Why the heck did the curse even activate?!?” Myne hissed frustrated, trying to move away before very quickly and painfully realizing that her new snake mouth was still stuck teeth deep in the tree bark. Then she let out another groan.

“What the heck is even the goal of that shit?!?” Myne cursed, as she carefully tried to loosen the teeth from the bark.

“Dumb ears! Dumb teeth. Snake body! And now a freaking head too?!? What is… the point?!?” Myne pulled again, but it still wouldnt come out fully.

“Can someone! Please! Explain this shit of logic to me! Ahhh! Ack!” One more pull and the teeth were finally out. If she was human it would have knocked her on her butt, but considering how much more stability she had with her new upper body, she caught herself without any issue whatsoever. 

Although that didn’t really improve her mood at all.

That said, now she had finally a moment to take in the whole second head down below. It really felt like… a second head to her. She could see through its eyes, feel its movements, open its mouth… everything. Not every move was voluntary, the head also frequently flicked its tongue, smelling the air around her which she could now also taste. But, she couldn't quite make it stop.

It felt a bit like parts of that lower half of hers were just animalistic instincts that couldn’t be controlled with reason. Which was a good thing to a certain extent, because she was slithering around with her snake tail despite not having a single clue how she is ACTUALLY doing it. Myne is just kinda using her own animalistic instincts to her advantage.

For some reason it didn’t actually take too long to sink in, as Myne accepted her second head quite quickly. Blame it on her crazy day or the fact that she had been unconscious for a while, but she was already thinking about how she could use this obviously very dangerous weapon to her advantage. 

After all, not everyone is cursed with a fully controllable snake head which looked like it could swallow humans whole if it wanted. Definitely something she needed to take advantage of in the future. 

“This is only the beginning, not the end. I’ll make this work. I will become queen, no matter what!” Myne declared to herself, cracking her fists to the sunset that was going on in front of her. It was getting surprisingly late.

“I need to come up with a plan and fast. Something that blames the Shield, gets Melty out of the way and makes me look like a savior…” Myne thought out loud, noticing that the tongue of her snake head was flicking, almost like it was thinking as well. It honestly annoyed Myne, until she picked up on something that she never thought she would pick up.

“...this smell.” She spoke, turning both her upper body and her snake head into a certain direction. “It smells like… me. Yet… not quite. Is that… Melty’s scent?”

Flicking the tongue some more, she became increasingly sure of it. “That is Melty’s scent. And it's mixed in with something that smells like human, bird and raccoon. No doubt she went with the Shield demon party. Dear lord, this annoying snake tongue is handy.”

Then she took a moment of silence.

“Now what do I do?” She sighed out loud. None of the plans she could come up with sounded particularly appealing or realistic at the moment. Though staying in the area was certainly not a good idea either, since the guards would undeniably come back to this location when they ultimately get to chasing the shield devil again. 

And literally the only direction she had was to follow the scent of Melty and go after the shield party. It wasn’t a good option, but it seemed to be the only option that made sense. It also might give her a chance to get rid of her sister again. So she made herself on the way.

As she was slithering through the woods, the tongue of her snake head flicking from time to time, Myne started to ponder again about everything that happened that day. “I feel like I really need to figure out how this curse works, because I have no idea how many more times it can activate anymore. And I really don’t need to lose my last bit of humanity like that damn Pope did.”

“I remember her saying something about it. We are not supposed to miss use the goddess name. That's definitely a thing that triggers it. But I haven't even talked about the goddess anymore since my room at the inn. Was there a second condition…?” She tried to think back, although it was kinda rough for her. She had labeled the weird girl as an idiot back when she first appeared, so her words weren’t all that important to Myne to remember back then.

“The heroes, wasn't it? Yeah, the Pope was saying something about getting rid of the Shield, and that got the girl angry too. And that would make sense too, considering that when I tried to pin the goddess' deeds on him and when I tried to attack him, both times the curse activated.”

Realizing that, Myne let out a hefty sigh. “If it really is the case that this curse is linked to messing with the shield devil, then getting to Melty might be tough.”

Before she knew it, Myne had already followed the scent all the way through the forest to a village she actually hasn’t been to all that often. It was the Reichnott Terretory, and it kind of made sense why the Shield Devil would seek shelter there. After all, the noble in charge is infamous among court nobles for taking in a lot of demihumans instead of humans, tarnishing his reputation among pretty much the entire Melromarc upper class. 

And the demihumans historically have clung to the Shield Hero quite constantly, so him being welcomed here is no surprise. The real question was…

“What do I do now?” It was the dead of night by now and very few people were still on the road. There were almost no guards, as expected of a small and poor village, so she actually had quite the easy time, slithering into the village and hiding from place to place. Though that still didn’t give her much of an idea of what she wanted to do.

The scent her snake head picked up ultimately led her to the lord's Manor. It was nothing special, she had stayed at more elaborate residences before. That said, her sniffing around was seemingly immediately rewarded, as she watched two figures leave the manor through the back entrance, one of which she would recognize anywhere.

"It's fine. I only wanted to step a bit outside to grab some fresh air.” Melty sighed, sitting down on a little rock near the door. “I just need to think about a few things.”

“Please, princess Melty. Don’t stay out too long or you might catch a cold.” The maid replied, standing by diligently at the doorway. “Is there something pressing on your mind?”

“There is. Sir Naofumi has saved my life and taken me under his protection, but… he doesn’t seem to trust me. No matter what I do, he just… seems to ignore me. I don't even know what to do anymore to make him accept me more.”

What a golden opportunity. It was dead of night, almost no lights were around. Myne was hidden in some bushes and neither of those two seemed to have noticed her. The shield Devil was nowhere in sight, all protection Melty had was a feeble little maid that could easily be disposed of. And Myne now held the agility, strength and speed of a wild snake, and Melty was very likely already within striking distance. 

A smirk crept onto Myne’s face. She silently coiled herself into a spring position. This was it. Her great moment to take what truly belongs to her, get rid of a nuisance and blame it all on the… crud.

"So many chances, all squandered in kind,

Simple instructions, yet you've fallen behind.

Clearly unable to choose right from wrong,

Someone shall guide your acts, where they belong."

Myne grit her teeth once again, as that damn heat spread through her body once again. From head to tail, everything seemed to be streamed through with that energy this time. Although, after just a few seconds of discomfort, it disappeared again. 

There was a moment of panic when she didn’t feel anything change, thinking that she might have missed it, but no. There simply was nothing that had physically changed about her body. Which was a surprise to her, but a welcome one. It gave her another opportunity to wind up her body and…

<Excuse me? Who are you…?>

A voice rang through Mynes head, catching her off guard. All her winding up was immediately undone, although it didn’t feel like it was because of her shock. Why was she suddenly relaxing all of her muscles in her snake tail like that?

“I could ask you the same thing! Now whoever you are, be quiet, so that they don’t notice we are here!” Myne hissed frustrated, although once again, her body just didn’t respond well to her. She just couldn’t wind up anymore, no matter how hard she tried.

<Wait… are you the decoy girl above me? Since when can you… you know… talk?> The weird voice asked, to which Myne frantically looked everywhere to find who was talking to her, yet she simply couldn’t see anyone close to her. <Uhm… Lady? In case you missed it my head is below you.>

Myne looked down. She could tell the snake head below her was looking up.

“You have got to be kidding me. The snake monster head can talk now?”

<Hey, thats not nice. You also just started talking and you don’t see me calling you names.>

“Because I am a human! And you are a monster! Now shut up!”

<...a human shaped decoy.>

“What was that?!?”

<Did you… hit your head by chance? You are my human decoy, you know, to lure humans in. You know, the thing that we mimic snakes are infamous for?>

By now, Myne was almost seething with anger. Melty has already returned to the manor and she was out here fighting with a sentient snake head. “You are the one being delusional. I might have been cursed by that goddess but I won't let that stop me. I came here to take out my sister and nothing you do will prevent me from getting rid of her so that I can become queen! Do you understand me?!?”

<...but isn’t that kinda… mean?>

“This is so that I can become queen for crying out loud! ANYTHING goes in a succession war.”

This is when a brief silence broke out between the two of them, before the snake spoke up again. <Listen… you sound really passionate about this, but I really am not joking when I say that you are a human decoy. While true, looking around, I really don’t know how we ended up here, making me believe that your story at least has a bit of truth to it, I can also prove my side of the story.>

“Oh yeah? Prove it then, you… Here I am, proving it.” Myne’s mouth suddenly moved without her consent, starting to speak on its own. “I am a Mimic snake, a rare monster species that specializes in luring humans in with my fake alluring appearance, then attacking them when they are close.”

There was a bit of silence again after she said that, but this time, it felt like the horror of the situation was slowly setting in for Myne. The Snake had just used her body. Just taken control of it completely and spoken through her mouth. She could also not move her lower half either. Everything about her body was under the Snakes control. And thats when it dawned on her.

…the Snake is letting her move voluntarily and could take control away from her at any second.

<...so do you believe me now?>

“I kinda have to after that stunt you pulled! What sort of horrible fate is this?!? I don’t want to be a human doll on top of a snake! What the actual hell?!?”

<Listen, I don’t know how you got the ability to talk either, but I can understand that you weren’t exactly have the best hand in this relationship. How about we make a deal? Does that sound good?>

“Ugh… Not like I have much of a choice.” Myne groaned, ready to bury her face in her hands. “What do you want?” 

<A very simple deal. You help me with my endeavors, and I’ll help you with yours. Also long as they don’t conflict, we should make good partners, no?>

“I’m telling you right now, if I had any choice in the matter, I would never accept that deal. But since you can literally force me to say yes, I guess I really don’t have a choice.” Myne hissed in anger, but then took a deep breath. “So alright. You know what I am after. I want my sister dead and the crown of the land securely on my head. What do you want?”

<I have traveled far and wide for one thing and one thing only. I would like to join and serve the Shield Hero, Naofumi Iwatani. I have even practiced speaking the human language and trained myself in all sorts of tricks to have the best chance of him accepting me. And I think with the help of an actual human, this might actually go even smoother than expected.>

“...you have got to be kidding me.” At this point Myne was at her wits end. Of course that stupid snake that threatened control over her body was striving to serve the devil of the shield. There was no way this was a coincidence. That goddess had to have done this on purpose.

<Something tells me that you are not exactly happy to hear that. Do you perchance know something about the shield hero?>

“Know something? We are standing right in front of that guy's hiding place. I was just trying to…” Thats when Myne realized that she might have messed up again in her anger.

<FOR REAL! THE REAL SHIELD HERO IS IN THERE?!?> The Snake almost yelled, excitement coursing through all of its body. Myne felt all of it. <What are we waiting for? Let’s go!>

“Wait! Wait, that's stupid! That gives away our hiding… No! Stooop!”

—

Myne had no freaking idea how it happened. Somehow she was sitting on a couch, her snake tail wrapped around the entire piece of furniture. Naofumi, the shield hero or shield devil, depending on who you ask, was sitting opposite her, arms crossed with an expression that could kill. She herself tried to keep her composure, but it was hard.

Not only because she was nervous, but the snake was too. For entirely different reasons of course.

“Is that… a Mimic Snake?” Raphtalia, the Shield devil's right hand demihuman entered the room, breaking the silence between them. “Could have fooled me. She really looks exactly like the real Myne.”

“Y-yeah. I get that a lot. Ahaha…” Myne laughed it off, trying her best to play the part. “I might look like the first princess, but I am not. I am just a Mimic snake that has searched for the Shield Hero far and wide. Ahaha…”

<Yes, yes. Keep it going! I’m sure if we just honestly propose to him we will surely understand.>

This was awful on so many levels. This wasn't the first time Myne had to play a role she didn’t like, but it was the first time she was forced into it against her consent and without a plan. And this fangirling snake was really starting to get on her nerves even more than it already did.

But what choices did she have? There were none anymore. The only thing she could do was pretend she wasn’t the first princess and hope that the shield devil would be gullible enough to believe her. “If I may introduce myself, my name is…”

“What do you want, you Bitch?” The shield devil cut her off coldly, his cold stare never wavering for a second. “Don’t think you are fooling anyone. I don’t know what sort of trick you used to look like that, nor what you hope to accomplish, but it aint happening.”

“W-what are you saying…?” Myne forced a smile, feeling like her last hope was slipping through the cracks. “I-I…”

“Cut the crap. Why are you here?”

<Y-You know the Shield hero? Why does he sound so angry…?>

“SHUT UP YOU DAMN SNAKE!!!” Myne suddenly yelled, balling her firsts, and punching the snake head below her, causing both herself and the snake to wince in pain. “I didn’t choose to be here! You freaking brought me here! All because this damn curse turned my body like this! I swear, if I ever find a way to separate from you again, YOU are the first one I kill!”

<Ouch! Step punching me!> The snake replied and froze her fists in place. And once again, no matter how hard she tried, her hands and arms just wouldn’t cooperate with her.

“You little… grrr!”

“Mind if you include me in your conversation as well?” Naofumi asked, to which Myne and the snake immediately looked up at him again. 

<W-What should we do…?>

“Speak for yourself for once. I am done being your puppet!” Myne replied angrily, turning her head away. Although almost immediately, she lost control of her entire body as it turned towards Naofumi with her entire body taking a much more welcoming and shy posture.

“H-Hello there, mighty shield hero…” Myne’s mouth stammered, as she put her arms forward innocently. “M-my name is Cecilia, and I am a Mimic snake.”

‘Use your own goddamn mouth!’ Myne hissed as loud as she could within her thoughts.

<I can’t! Only my decoy… I mean your body has vocal cords. I’ll try to make this quick, okay?>

“...” The shield hero just continued to stare, making Cecilia, the snake, increasingly nervous.

“I have come to offer myself as an asset to your party, Mr Shield Hero. I have heard great things and… uhm… about your handsomeness…? And now I would like to be part of your quest.” Mynes mouth continued to speak, although every word of this bumbling idiot of a snake mentally killed Myne just a little bit more.

“Cecilia, huh? Somehow I don’t think she is lying.” The Shield demon spoke, surprising Myne. He was scarily perspective if he could tell that Cecilia wasn’t just a badly acted hail mary from Myne herself. He continued. “How come you got to fuse and seemingly also control that bitch?”

“To be honest… I don’t really know.” Cecilia answered through Myne’s mouth. “I feel like I always had this body as my human bait, and then one day, I just suddenly was in a place I have never seen before. And that’s when she started talking too.”

“Gotcha. So you can control her body?” The shield devil asked. A cold shower was running down Myne’s spine. She didn’t like where this was going at all.

“Y-Yes! I can move my decoy body anyway I want and even make minor adjustments to it on the fly.”

“What sort of adjustments?” The shield devil asked, scarily interested in that.

“Uhm… things like changing her hair color or increasing her boobs size. Is there anything…?”

Before Cecilia could even finish, the shield demon interrupted her. “Blow her tits up to the max, make her pose in a sexy way and apologize for everything she has done to us in the most provocative and submissive way you can muster, and I’ll let you come with us.”

“For real?!?” The dumb snake replied in an instant and Myne could even feel her ears wiggling in excitement. She wanted to believe for a brief moment that Cecilia wasn’t so dumb that she would just blindly believe the Shield Devils' blatant attempt to humiliate her in front of his entire party. She really wanted to trust in her snake overlord.

Then she felt an incredible tightness in her chest. And with what limited ability she had, she looked down to watch her two breasts stretch the limits of what seemed possible for her armor to contain, blowing up like two balloons before she was forced to put one hand behind her head, one on her hips and smile seductively.

“Hey there, my handsome shield hero. Sorry about everything little ol me has done to you. I don’t have any means to repay you… other than with my body of course. Because I would do anything to make you happy~ A~ ny~ thing~” Cecilia made Myne’s body wink. “So what do you say, handsome?”

“Hahahaha!” The shield Demon broke into laughter, a smile on his face the likes of which Myne has never witnessed before. “That sounded legitimately genuine. I'm impressed. I like you.”

“I am honored to hear it, Mr Shield Hero~” Cecilia spoke, bowing with Myne’s body causing her triple sized breasts to bounce all over the place. Myne just wanted to scream.

“Would you do me a solid and let Myne out for a moment?” The shield demon asked, and just like that myne could feel her body go back under her control again. Although she was feeling almost sick from everything she was forced to do.

“...what else do you want…?” She asked, feeling the spark in her body being almost completely drained.

“Just wanted to watch your reaction. Nothing more.” He replied with a grin.

“I hate you so much.” Myne hissed.

“And I like your new predicament quite well. Welcome to the team Cecilia.” Naofumi declared, standing up from the couch and reaching his hand forward. Mynes body immediately went to shake it.

<For real?!? I’m in?!? This is the luckiest day of my life!>

“Uff… could you at least tone down those balloons again?” Myne asked, almost having her massive mammaries slap her in the face with how hard Cecilia was shaking Naofumis hand.

<Oh, sure. Let me just…>

“Hey Cecilia. Keep them this big. And don't make them even a tiny bit smaller until I say so, okay?”

“Understood, Mr Shield Hero sir~” Cecilia replied, taking control over her mouth away for a brief moment again. 

“Uuuugggghhhh…” Myne groaned. All she could do was groan. After all, she was just forced to join the Shield Devils party, fully against her will being controlled by a way to optimistic dumb snake who seemed to idolize Naofumi in a way few people that myne had met do. 

But if there is one thing that Myne now had a bit of respect for, it was the goddess that had cursed her with this hopeless situation. Because what she was forced to live now was worse than any punishment she had ever even begun to theorize about. 

All she could do now was pray to the goddess again, begging her to free her from this absolute nightmare. Although… her hopes were not too high that that would happen…

—

It's easy. Just don’t be evil. 

Myne Challenge Level: Impossible.

Sketch by ThatFreakGivzs

Commissioned by Toastbro