Chapter 306

I smiled as I walked over to the group and preened under their appreciative gazes on my true form while wearing my new glowing armor. The magic armor looked pale, but had a bright yellow sheen to it that was entirely opaque, unlike [Light Imbue] and [Armor of Light] had been. The armor had weight to it and made sound as the plates clicked together when I moved like actual armor would, which made it look and feel convincingly real.

Morrigan's eyes lit up and she nearly ran over to inspect the armor up close. I was amused at how quickly she had been redirected from the [Winged Cloak of Light] spell she had been so focused on only moments before. It felt odd looking down as she inspected my chest piece so closely, since I was so much taller than her.

Her hands slid across my armor as she looked intently at the magic with her transformed eyes. "This armor spell is incredible. It resembles the magic ice armor spells I've seen before, but it appears and feels a lot more realistic. If it didn't glow so much, I think it would pass as normal armor."

Bella came over to me with a blush on her face. "Does it take other shapes? I don't have any clothes that fit my true form yet either... Maybe it would be better if I just used the [Winged Cloak of Light]?"

I shook my head and grinned down at my shy lover. "No. I think you should come out of your comfort zone a little, my deadly flower." I tilted her head up to face me with a finger. "Show yourself off to them for me, and I'll give you a pretty dress to protect yourself with."

Bella's ears went bright red, and she gulped before nodding. Despite her embarrassment, that wasn't what was at the front of her mind when she looked back at me. She couldn't help but keep her big eyes trained on me as she stepped away and let Mimi strip her. I smiled wide as her confidence surged and my Belladonna's true form came to life before us. Her body grew and her stature came to only a head shorter than my own. A pair of black wings and spade-tipped tail matching my own flicked out behind her.

"Beautiful," I said as I pulled her naked form against me and kissed her. All of her shyness had evaporated as her long tongue intertwined with mine. Her sinuous tail snaked back and forth behind her with delight as she enjoyed everyone's eyes on the two of us.

After a long moment, Bella pulled back and grinned up at me. "As much as I enjoy showing myself off when I'm like this, we'd better get moving my love." She patted the side of my cheek. "Give me something sexy to wear."

I cast [Arms of Light] again, but this time pictured something more akin to a dominatrix outfit than anything approaching actual armor. The nature mage would appreciate something lighter than what I wore. A form-fitting leotard, paired with fishnet stockings and shiny leather boots, along with matching gloves, covered her body. The armor was a pale white color that matched my own.

Bella looked down at herself and chuckled at my choices before taking the reins of the magic and altering it to suit her tastes better. The leotard became a knee-length dress with long slits running up the sides of her thighs all the way up to the crest of her hips. The fishnet stockings became white pantyhose with a lacy floral nightshade design patterned into them, and her boots changed in design slightly to look less aggressive. The gloves on her arms thinned and turned into something more like opera gloves, and the top of her dress now ran over her shoulders to form an open neck design that showed off the valley between her breasts. She now looked like a sexy femme fatale with a dress that perfectly complemented her shiny black wings and ram-horned deer head.

She licked across her long fangs and laughed. "I know that I'm going to be dying of embarrassment when I turn back, but I love the way this outfit makes me feel right now. Sometimes it feels nice to be sexy, rather than the cute look I usually go for." She did a slight twirl as she looked over at our friends. "What do you think?"

The looks Bella received were a mix of confusion and arousal. Morrigan was blushing brightly, being one of the few who had seen her up close the last time she had transformed. Bella winked at her, which only made things worse for Morrigan. Everyone knew of the rumors surrounding her transformation, and some had even been around when we were having sex, but not everyone knew what she looked like or knew of the drastic personality changes that Bella went through when she was like this.

"Bella, is that really you?" Silva asked in confusion.

Bella smirked and walked over to Silva. Silva was usually taller than her, and I could sense her interest in towering over the tall woman right now. Bella froze once Silva tensed though, quickly catching onto how uncomfortable her personality shift had affected the rabbit-woman.

"It is me," Bella said. "A part of me, at least. I don't know any more than Lilith does about why our true forms affect our personality in this way, but I promise I'm still me. I still remember what it's like when I'm not like this, and my... usual form still remembers clearly what it's like when I'm in this form. I don't feel like a different person, I just feel different right now."

Silva looked over to me warily, and I nodded. "It's the same for me. I feel more confident when I'm like this. Almost arrogant, if I'm being totally honest. I might need to be careful about that, but I feel powerful. I'm still the same person though. I don't feel different in that way."

"You're both fucking hot," Raya suddenly said.

The two of us laughed and looked over at Raya. I was happy she had managed to defuse the mood a little. A sense of recognition and acceptance flowed through the bond from Silva. The fact that we essentially couldn't lie to each other when we were this opened up to the bond helped us ease her suspicions.

While I was looking over at Bella, something felt a bit strange. I didn't place it right away, but the moment I did, things made a lot of sense. It felt as if I had more magic at my disposal. There was something in the wording of [Succubus Constitution] that I often overlooked, but I think may be coming into play here.

[Succubus Constitution - Racial Trait (Succubus) - Hidden]Taking after their progenitor, Succubi have special constitutions. As creatures of magic, succubi are immune to most swings in hot and cold temperatures, can see in the dark, can reduce their physical fatigue with lust-aspected mana, and can choose to see magic. Through their touch, they can induce arousal in others and sense others' pleasurable and sensitive spots. They can use that information to exert the perfect amount of pressure to make their lovers' toes curl or their enemies wince in pain. Succubi are all connected to each other by the strength of familial bonds and become stronger and more resilient to magic when in the presence of their family. All Succubi are wreathed in an aura of lust aspected mana that they can use to enflame the desires of those around them and with practice, control the mana around them. Solve et coagula.

When this transformation happened, there were a few traits that got rolled into it before I could see what they were. One of those traits was called [Familial Bond]. That trait presumably added the line, 'Succubi are all connected to each other by the strength of familial bonds and become stronger and more resilient to magic when in the presence of their family,' but up until now, I haven't really noticed the effect. Now that I'm standing here with Bella while both of us are in our true forms, I feel like I have significantly more mana than I usually do, mainly from the transformation itself, but also from being near Bella while she was transformed too.

I wasn't entirely sure yet though, so I decided to keep it to myself while we focused on practicing with [Winged Cloak of Light], our true forms, and [Arms of Light]. We would need to fly to the other island from here, so all of us would need a solid handle on using the spell before it would be safe to cross the gap. I knew this would slow down our return to Traehall, but we didn't have much choice. We really couldn't risk something going wrong while we were all flying over the empty ocean between the islands.

I glanced at the nearby mountain. I would prefer it if we were a little bit closer to the center while we practiced. We had stopped as soon as we lost line of sight with the banshees, but if any of us went too far in the direction we came from, or rose too high, we might be spotted. I didn't want to deal with that if we could avoid it.

("Everyone, head over that way,") I said through the bond. The usefulness of the bond was obvious from the beginning, but convenient moments like this really showed its value.

I received feelings of acknowledgement from everyone and we all started moving in that direction. It was also a good opportunity for my mana to recover since I used a lot on the initial casts of [Arms of Light]. Once I felt like we found a good spot, it was time for all of us to actually begin our flight training. There was just a slight problem, and I felt a bit awkward once I realized it. I had never actually used [Winged Cloak of Light] on myself before, so I don't know if it operates any differently than my own wings. I would need to test it out first.

Feeling a bit uncharacteristically embarrassed while in this form, I transformed back into my normal form. One advantage of this was that I was able to see what happened to my armor of light when I did this. Fortunately, I quickly found that I was able to control its shape in time with my transformation, which meant that I wouldn't need to dismiss it and recast it every time I needed to take my true form again. I even got a portion of the mana refunded to me when the larger armor lost material. I had a feeling that this skill was going to quickly replace my traditional need for armor. I would just need to find out how susceptible it is to being dispelled by other mages and other issues like that.

My face flushed once I was in my normal form again and I got a few looks of confusion. I cleared my throat. "I need to try out [Winged Cloak of Light] to see how it works, otherwise I can't really help any of you fly with it." The explanation was enough to satisfy everyone and I internally sighed with relief when none of them said anything about it. It wasn't as if I expected my friends to make fun of me for the lapse, but it was an odd insecurity that had popped up when I was in my true form.

I shook the thoughts away and cast the flying spell on myself. It looked the same as when I had cast it on others, but it was a very odd experience for me. One that I think only Bella would be able to appreciate. The feeling it gave me was very similar to my normal wings, except I knew they weren't my normal wings, and I couldn't feel them properly. It felt like I was puppeteering an imitation of my limb, even though I had a normal limb there, except my limb wasn't there right now since it was shifted away. It kinda felt like I was moving the ghost of my wing. It was a very strange and difficult to explain feeling.

Just like my normal wings though, I was able to cycle my mana into them as if they were real and use their magic to propel myself into the air with the odd reduction in weight that the magic caused. The only thing the spell didn't come with was the innate sense of air currents that I had, but that could easily be relayed to everyone else using the bond until they got the flying skill that would let them identify the currents for themselves.

Satisfied that they were similar enough to my true wings, I dispelled the false wings and shifted back to my true form. My confidence bolstered again, and I paid the mana to smoothly restore my armor skill as I grew to my full size again. Now that I had a deeper mana pool, I went and cast the spell on everyone else so that all of us would be able to practice flying together.

Sibyl moved her false wings awkwardly. "Are you sure this is safe? There's no range or anything I need to worry about, right? I don't have nearly enough mana to hold the spell running if it loses power."

"That's a good point... we should test that," I replied.

Her face went white. "On the ground, right?"

I laughed. "Of course. I'll go fly that direction while you wait here. We'll see if and when the spell gets disabled."

Sibyl sighed in relief. "Okay. That's a good plan."

"You're not afraid of heights, are you?" Raya asked curiously.

Sibyl shook her head. "No, that's not the problem. I'm scared of being held up by someone else's magic. The fact that someone else is powering it means that if something happens to Lilith, all of us will go down with her. I don't like relying on anyone else like that. No offense."

"No, it's a valid concern," I agreed. "It might be worth seeing how easily the mana upkeep could be transferred to someone else, and what happens when the connection is lost. It looks like we have a lot to test. Let's start with the range, though. You wait here, and I'll head off in that direction," I said, pointing.

Bella grinned. "Let me come with you. I don't need to worry about my wings falling off, after all."

I felt the insinuation in her voice, but it seemed like no one else caught it. They were too distracted by the exciting new spell they were playing with. No one had gotten too far off the ground yet, but everyone was using them to jump and glide short distances already.

Meeting Bella's eyes, I nodded and the two of us tightened the bond immediately from the others to hide our shared plans. It was time to go on the inaugural flight with my sexy Belladonna.

"We'll head out together then. Be careful to make sure none of you are too far from the ground if your wings are supported by me," I told them.

"Good luck, be careful, you two. Don't get seen by the banshees," Torien told us.

I shared one last look with Bella before the two of us took off in the opposite direction.