"Haaah… Haaah…"
Ico's breathing was ragged, her chest rising and falling in sharp bursts. Her cheeks were flushed, but not with excitement—she was pale, visibly shaken. Her lithe body trembled with frustration as she writhed against the grotesque tendrils coiling around her limbs.
She bit her lip hard, eyes gleaming with a mix of fury and humiliation. "Tch… To think… A proud descendant of a mighty dragon… being restrained like this by a low-born, malformed creature…"
The writhing tentacles pulsed with unnatural warmth, clinging possessively to her soft, exposed skin. Her hair clung to her damp shoulders as her slender frame twisted—each movement making the constriction worse. Her skimpy outfit, already tattered from the battle, did little to hide her curves. It only made her predicament more vulnerable... more maddening.
Suddenly—
"Uwaaah!"
Zack was thrown high into the air like a ragdoll, his body arcing beautifully against the sky. For a moment, it looked like he would crash into the wreckage below—but then, with a thunderous gust, Lancelot soared beneath him and caught him in midair.
Ico's eyes widened.
"What… What the hell is he doing…?" Her voice trembled, but not from fear. From disbelief.
Zack had just attempted to ride the berserk dragon.
"He's trying to tame that thing? Is he insane?!"
Her heart pounded violently inside her chest. The sheer recklessness of what she was witnessing overwhelmed her. One misstep—just one—and he'd be crushed like an insect.
"Stop! Zack! Get away from here! Run while you still can!"
Her voice cracked as she screamed, desperation creeping into her normally confident tone. But he didn't listen. From atop Lancelot's back, Zack turned his head slightly and shouted back to her with unwavering determination.
"Ico! I'm coming for you! I will save you!"
His words struck her like lightning—raw and unwavering. No hesitation. No doubt. Even while facing death, he wasn't thinking about his own safety. He was thinking about her. A strange heat spread through Ico's chest. Her vision blurred.
"You idiot…!" she whispered, tears threatening to well up.
Gritting her teeth, she twisted her hips violently, trying once again to free herself. But the monstrous appendages slithered tighter, coiling around her smooth thighs, her waist, her arms—gripping as if wanting to claim her. Her modesty was rapidly slipping away beneath the squeezing pressure of the warm, slimy tendrils.
Each movement only made her feel more exposed, more helpless.
"Ngh…!" she gasped as a tentacle slid up her side, brushing the underside of her breast. Her eyes snapped shut, a crimson blush burning across her cheeks.
Then—
"…Huh?"
A sudden, wet sound—like flesh being peeled open—echoed above her.
The dragon's grotesque belly split open, revealing a horrifying maw lined with thin, sharp teeth on both sides. A gaping vertical mouth opened wide like a demonic flower, twitching with anticipation. It looked like a monstrous insect's feeding chamber.
"Y-You've got to be kidding me…"
Ico's eyes widened in horror. Her skin crawled. The stench of rot and magic filled her nostrils. Dozens of the slick, snakelike tentacles emerged from within the gaping orifice, wriggling hungrily. Then, before she could scream again, the tendrils pulled her in.
"No—!"
Her world spun as she was dragged toward the writhing darkness. Her limbs stretched outward, body arched, breasts heaving as the tight grip forced her chest forward. Her exposed thighs quivered as the mouth closed around her, the slick walls brushing over her skin like a perverse caress.
"Z-Zack…!"
Her cry was choked, barely audible over the squelching sounds of the dragon's mouth. Just before darkness enveloped her, she heard his voice—panicked, desperate, furious—
"Ico—!!"
Then everything went black.