Warning: The original version of this chapter contains explicit non-consent content. As Tapas does not allow such content, the full, uncensored version has been uploaded to my Patreon. 

Kai gaped. The shock resonated within him with the power of a 7.0 earthquake. He was so shaken on the inside that he actually began to shake on the outside, trembling pathetically like a leaf in high wind. He was reeling.

Was the tentacle monster spinning him around or was his mind spinning? 

The stranger was the aptly-dubbed King Marius the Conqueror. 

For a moment, he hadn't recognized him and had thought he was someone else; the merman before him now had hair that draped down his back all the way to his hips. But it was those predatory blue eyes that he could never mistake, mind spinning or not. 

While he'd lain unconscious in the cage, the King had changed into something worthy of his kingly stature. Kai had never seen such impressive garb before, or so much gold on a single person. A beautiful circlet crown circled his head, and looked worth more than what some small countries made in a year. It had two gold bands twirling around each other and then intersecting to form a rhombus shape on his forehead. 

Around his shoulders, he wore a spectacular gold and black chest piece. Kai had never been able to tell handcrafted works from the work of a machine before, but he was sure that this particular piece was indeed handcrafted. The heavy-looking, decorative chest piece had very intricate gold inlaid designs that would have cost the maker their eyes, and it sported a magnificent, large red gem -probably a ruby- in its center. The red gem glowed so brightly that Kai suspected it was magic. 

Kia's eyes travelled down the merman's body, and what a body it was. His merman form was just as powerfully-built as his human form. Bare-chested, Kai could see every rippling muscle in his body. He quickly moved on before he became too distracted. 

On either arm, he wore wrist braces just like the other pompous, purple-haired merman, but his were of an even finer quality. The same intricate designs of the chest piece were replicated on the arm braces, save for the gem. At the hips, he wore yet another piece that also matched the rest of his 'clothes'. 

Yet what Kai's eyes were most drawn to weren't the multiple displays of wealth and status, but the King's long black tail. The shimmering scales reminded him of the King's full-body suit that he'd worn in human form. Unlike the merfolk surrounding him, the king's tail gradually changed hues from black to a very faint red at the bottom. At the base of his tail right before the fins, a gold bangle akin to the one he'd seen on the mer siblings shimmered, a king's ransom. 

There was no mistaking who the stranger was. 

A part of him had always suspected it, but he was still quite surprised to learn that his suspicions were true. He hadn't wanted them to be. But what difference would it have made if the stranger was someone else? He would have met with the infamous ruler eventually. 

As the tentacles tightened around him, he couldn't break King Marius' gaze for the life of him. He wanted to look away, tried to, but just couldn't! No doubt Kai's eyes were a mirror into his soul at this very moment, revealing every thought and fear that flitted through his chaotic mind. On the other hand, he couldn't tell what the King was thinking at all. His eyes were the very definition of unreadable. 

The King of Nostraza appeared to be a deeply-private, formidable individual whose thoughts were not privy to just anyone, if anyone at all. He was a force to be reckoned with and Kai's greatest adversary. 

Kai shivered. 

He opened his mouth to say something, anything. "You're-" 

His head gave a sharp pang, immediately silencing him. The memories of the events in the underground tunnel returned to him all at once, bombarding him with one image after another.  He flinched and would have taken a step back if he could have. 

The mirror must've been a portal to Nostraza. 

In his mind's eye, he saw the magical mirror and remembered how King Marius had thrown him right into it. 

Now that he recalled how he'd gotten here, he deduced a few things. Seeing the stranger, er King Marius, before him meant: a) General Ryodan had not been able to stop King Marius, and b) he was now firmly in the enemy's hands, and he'd run out of chances to escape. 

The monster made a sudden, bone-chilling sound that momentarily distracted Kai. It sounded like a mix between a growl and a groan. 

"Oh, looks like Shtara is getting excited!" The mermaid quipped excitedly, her eyes glistening with something he didn't like. 

So the monster's name was Shtara. Was that information he could use? 

"My, I can't remember the last time I've seen him this happy with a new toy!" Her brother said, grinning deviously. 

Something was wrong; he could feel it. 

"Hey, is he going to eat me?" Kai questioned the purple-haired brother, keeping his eyes on Shtara.

"Oh, he'll eat you, alright," he responded vaguely, to which his sister and the crowd guffawed heartily.

His insides twisting, he felt Shtara's numerous limbs slither and wrap around his own limbs to suspend him in the water, and then the monster turned him around, exposing his naked front to the crowd's scrutiny. 

No, I don't want him to see me like this! 

"Oh, my! His skin is so pale and soft-looking!" The mermaid said in what was either appreciation or jealousy, he wasn't quite sure.  

Vainly, Kai resisted, trying to tear at least one hand out of the monster's tentacles, not that that would do him any good. The tentacles didn't budge. 

Two much smaller tentacles -compared to the rest- wrapped around his budding nipples and squeezed, hard. Kai yelped in pain. 

The crowd cheered. 

No, no, no. This couldn't be happening! 

Gritting his teeth until his skull protested, Kai helplessly watched a tentacle swim toward his cock. When the slimy, cold thing wrapped around it, he involuntarily shivered. 

King Marius remained silent throughout the whole thing.

"I'll see you on the other side" was what he'd said to Kai right before tossing him into the portal mirror. He'd heard the promise of retribution in his voice clear as day. 

Was this his punishment? To be publicly molested by a sea monster in front of his enemies? 

Oh, he'll pay for this, Kai silently and vehemently swore. 

Why would a monster of another species even be doing this to him?!

As if reading his mind, the sister said, "Shtara feeds on sexual energy." 

Kai felt faint all of a sudden. 

Sure enough, Shtara began to work him callously. 

And to his chagrin, his body began to react. 

"Oh, no," he breathed, terrified. This was humiliation on another level, one he'd never experienced before. As the child of an ambassador, Kai was only ever used to the utmost respect from those surrounding him. To have his private parts be exposed to a new world he hadn't known existed while being jacked off by a ravenous beast was a type of distress he'd never wish upon his worst enemy. 

But his worst enemy did not share his sentiments.

Teary eyed, Kai's eyes unconsciously sought the King's. 

The King regarded him with the utmost indifference, as if what he was witnessing were a dull, casual sideshow. 

Kai looked away from the cruelty he saw reflected in their cerulean depths. He would not plead with him. In truth, the heartless monstrosity here was none other than the King who'd kidnapped him from the heart of his very home and brought him to suffer here. 

He’d suffer through this undignified act silently, for this was no mercy here to be found. 

Slowly but surely, his body began to react to the creature's repulsive touch. Now Kai was just as educated as the next guy; he knew that his body didn't care who -or what- touched him and would react to Satan himself, but he couldn't help the shame that washed over him.

Soon, and just as he'd feared, his traitorous body began to respond. He started to feel... pleasure. Someone in the crowd saw it and made a comment that Kai didn't care to address, much to the debauched delight of the crowd. 

He bit his lips to keep from letting out any more sounds till he tasted blood. He would not give them the satisfaction of hearing him scream or moan. 

Shtara made that same worrisome, loud sound again. Startled, Kai looked over his shoulder. His eyes zeroed in on the dick-like thing that emerged out of a slick sleeve in the beast's nether region.

By some miracle, Kai didn't scream in horror. And by an even bigger miracle, he didn't immediately start begging to be spared. He supposed it was less a miracle and more that he'd gone utterly speechless at the sight of the thing. 

The thing would split him in two. And if he survived it, he’d never shit the same again. 

But he was powerless to do anything about it! He could only watch in sheer horror as it extended, like the rest of the tentacles, all the way to his bottom. 

"Oh, my! It's such a pretty pink!" 

If that mermaid didn't stop narrating his body 'features', Kai was going to kill her the first chance he got. 

He felt Shtara against his most private part.

A single tear he'd been struggling to hold back fell down his face -or rather floated into the water. 

"Enough," A deep voice echoed, instantly silencing the crowd and stilling the beast. He waved his hand fleetingly and Shtara immediately released Kai, who fell face-first to his cage’s floor.