@Pcm It's alright. Now that I think about it- I can kind of see allusions to what you mention regarding Tristan in chapter 2 and 3. Somewhat at least. The abyssal gaze...those are the fish folk, if I remember right. If so, I can see why you'd potentially avoid hydrokinesis for Leon- but he likely I presume will have some affinity for cleanliness or the agents of it (water in some form perhaps, though not like those of the abyss, or something else entirely). I think when it comes to magic, I tend to group anything that involves the unseen and not a physical action as being of it. The demons ability to induce mental changes so severely by sheer presence alone to me speak of that kind of unseen ability. It's not manipulating magical energy or the like, but in my eyes- a kind of sorcery nonetheless- though one moreso of the mind and body. Though like you've said- it's more physically based, and possibly biologically (though I could be wrong on the latter- that's me speculating.) I agree that Collin would likely only succumb only after being put through the wringer as you've mentioned. However, being the grandmasters pupil he likely was taught safeguards and knows ways to address and counter getting to that point. You've mentioned he finds self sacrifice appealing due to the real fear he has regarding demons and to stay human- he may well sacrifice himself to avoid hurting others if he feels he might transform. Garrett already noted that Collin is slowly killing himself due to using his powers too much- if it means keeping others safe, I can easily see Collin just accelerating that process to its end. He might also likely see becoming a demon as the destruction of the memory of his loved ones- only he knows now how they once were as human and family. He will likely strive to keep that alive- however that must happen. Not to mention, he will likely never give up his duty as a healer. Not to mention, he doesnt seem to have been tempted in the least by their sexual activities in this chapter unlike say william all the way back in chapter 1- instead finding them horrifying and violating. It's likely he won't be felled through such means.

Thank you very much for continuing this story. I hope the next chapter will come out as soon as this one.

@Pcm Your mention about Tristan's past life before Frederick does shed a lot of light as to why he is the way he is now. For him, his prior skinny body is likely a reminder of the abuse and poverty he had to face, much like how Henrich discarded his old name as it reminded him of his time being horribly ill and unable to be with his family. Leon will be interesting because cleanliness is often associated with purification in most contexts. It would likely be very difficult for them to try to figure out how to corrupt that. Excessive showering or steaming might be a way but...I'm trying to puzzle out how that would work. It's not like this could turn into showers of ejaculate, as that would contradict Leon's desire for cleanliness and relaxation. Sex tends to be a rather strenuous activity....I mean unless he become some kind of gentle sex prodigy that can blow people's minds with hydrokinesis (control of water) or something. As for self-sacrifice, it is very realistic that Collin would feel that way, and frankly I can see the grandmaster spiraling down that way too, but you've mentioned how that goes about might be very different. I think that for Collin to get corrupted, he won't be seduced by familial ties like William was, or just the lustful aspects of it. He'd likely only succumb in order to save somebody else, and even then he'd fight tooth and nail to avoid that and save anybody from the demons. They might be his family, but Collin knows duty- he was the grandmaster's pupil- he might be softer towards those who are turned, but I don't take him to be a pushover who will break at a moment's notice. I look forward to the later chapters, as well as the return to the east with Eddie. Seeing him in Wolfheim after all this time, and seeing Wolfheim again will be intriguing. I'm guessing it will be a covert operation he's going to get up to. However you go about about things, I'm eager to see how this goes. You've created a very rich world here, and I find myself pondering over it's dynamics any time I read it. And if we end the story from the king's perspective, I wonder if it's the king we see here somehow managing to stay human or being turned (he seems a nice man- but this is also probably the guy who got with Gil's daughter and caused a bit of a disaster that way so...mixed bag there...or gregory after having deposed him and having to man the kingdom. Who knows. Either way, I look forward to what comes next.

So so so so so so SO FREAKING GOOD!! My favorite chapter yet. 🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰

Very hot 🔥🔥. Looking forward to seeing how much further his submission goes

Great work!!

@Pcm I think that in relation to the demons apperences, they make a sort of sense- they embody the principle of excess they are adhered to. Maybe it's my cultural background speaking, but while Tristan and Frederick represent wanting to indulge in food (I assume Tristan dealing in this probably means he had to deal in poverty and food insecurity for a time)- the lack of cleanliness just reminds me of death, rot and impurity (they have a more stocky appearance which isn't bad on it's own for me- but like you've said it is a very specific niche- and honestly they do that niche well (it just isn't for me, but that's not a negative really)- Gregory and William on the other hand while fierce and terrifying, represented of their affinity to war and fighting, even amidst that we have seen a more softer side to them- so there a bit more alluring in that sense. Still terrifying though. I find Gregory (if he's the one in the first picture) a tad more alluring than the others- I can easily see him showing a face in softness as well as in crazed lust. It might be the eyes in the picture I think that lead me to this view. As for Leon, you make an interesting point about the bathhouse being a place of vulnerability and rest. I've never been to one, but I know that historically, they were very common in the near east and also in south asia in certain areas, though even there, they were less about immersing oneself in a standing pool of water, and more about using moving water to cleanse oneself- and usually while wearing a loincloth or a towel to cover the privates, or something akin to a steam room. But they were often places to clean oneself, civic spaces, and social areas in certain ways. But in reality, a shower really is a space of vulnerability regardless if done in private or in a sauna like environment. So him liking that, and being able to take a break from the pressures of the job makes sense. Who doesn't like a break from work? For the philosophical dilemma Collin faces, I think that the major thing that both he and Garret are stumbling into is treating things like a zero sum game- but that's not surprising considering each's backgrounds. Garret seems to think it's reckless hedonism at the expense of those that are not your loved ones while those you care for are enjoying with you, or being perpetually misreable while being moral, while Collin is way too kneck-deep in being too quick to sacrifice his own well being for others without considering his own abilities (which is both a blessing and curse and thus seems to imply being moral is to be miserable- he wishes to help, but he cannot help others if he ruins himself in the process). Hedonism when taken to it's logical extreme often means pleasure at any costs, no matter if it effects those who you like or not- it can devolve into a dangerous form of egoism. On the other hand, Collin's kindness and morality are a virtue, but his propensity to disregard his own needs is damaging to himself and causing him great misery, leaving him to be taken advantage of by the grandmaster- who has let his belief of the "needs of the many outweigh the few" go just a tad too far (I fear he will likely only grow more unhinged as things get worse). I think this might also be a reflection on some of the more rigid and unforgiving aspects of western culture. At the same time, I think that the balance between being selfless and also balancing your own needs for pleasure is a question to ponder, and I'd argue alongside the theme of family one of the major cores of your stories. As for the transformations, the way I see it with Gregory is that it wasn't just a form of hypnosis that he got- his very cognitive processes were altered. In real life, chemical and physical changes to the brain can radically reshape personality, so it seems the demons that nabbed him realized that just hypnosis wasn't enough- you have to change the very essence of a person- their mind. It is that that makes their transformation technique so effective and so dangerous. And it opens up a far more frightful question- if one changes every aspect of what came before, or a large majority of it- are they still the same person? This is an extension of the paradox of the ship of theseus- where a ship is taken apart piece by piece and replaced- it is still a ship, but is it the same ship still? This I think Collin will have to wrestle with, and it likely leave him with little peace. Because we have seen William and the others show echoes of their human selves- but at the same time, we have seen just how alien they are to their human selves now. And I think that Collin being faced with the fact that they can never go back to how they were before (the demonified that are like Gregory), will hurt him like nothing else. I think when it comes to the transformed, thanks to this approach, they don't want to go back now to how things were for them- they physically likely can't. The only way I could see this happening is if the ones they love refuse them over and over, and attempting to force them fails and only makes things worse. They would likely drown themselves in pleasure, but without their loved ones, it is nothing but a hollow folly. The fact of the matter is, the way I see it at least- Collin is ultimately driven by his virtue and kindness and desire to heal and self-sacrifice- he is not going to give that up- and not easily by any means. And his mental state right now is only going to continue to decline amidst the primal beast incursions and the demonization of his family and loved ones- and frankly, the more they become demons- the more the grandmaster can arguably tighten his control on Collin- presenting himself as the only human he knows that hasn't been tainted, increasing his loyalty and service. Collin essentially mentally reclassifying his family as being "deceased" in the sense of the soul rather than the flesh would be a rather realistic approach to this situation- if he truly believes there is no hope for them- and we see that Garret just simply wants to go back to how he was- then he will likely have to accept that there is no going back to how things were. And that will likely either cause him to retreat from any sort of reunion with his loved ones and further go into the sway of the grandmaster, or cause him to snap. But I think ultimately, Collin will likely never willingly be seduced to join the demons. Unless somehow he is demonized due to his propensity for self-sacrifice, which is highly unlikely seeing such is diametrically opposed to demon ideals- the most selfless thing they feel is spreading their pleasure- which Collin is opposed to- he'd likely make it so that such is an impossibility. Realistically, the more bleak options I wrote out I feel would be the only fates he would have- either he perishes by his own hand healing others because he feels he can never be with his family and that they are all dead- the demons that are them are but imposters and deceivers with no hope of being healed- or the grandmaster- even seeing himself to be kind- offers Collin a way to escape his emotional turmoil- by finding a way to remove his emotions entirely. If the demons represent emotional and physical excess, Daniel may well descend into the extreme of negating all such emotions the demons find pleasing, focusing obsessively on humanity's survival- he will discard his own. For me at least, excessive hedonism comes with a price- it may not seem like you pay it at first, but exceed too far, and eventually life becomes an empty husk of pleasure- nobody truly wants to be around you because you will only ever put yourself first and care little for others, so you put on an illusion of delight and glitter, and people seek you to gain that illusion. They don't want you- they want the illusion you have made of yourself. Some may find pleasure in such things- many likely will not. So I would find it twistedly fitting, in a more realistic and grim thought process, that Gregory and the others get what they want- they get the king deposed, the primal beast is pushed back, the nation is turned into a lustful paradise of excess, and the grandmaster is found out for his plots- but they can't save Collin, because Collin would never join such a thing- not unless they wanted to destroy what made him himself. Or that Collin went too far in the grandmaster's ways and destroys himself, having sought to distance himself from the reality that he can never have his family as they once were- that he will always need to stand alone in his convictions, and that at the end of the day, he will die alone amidst his convictions. Hopefully, such a thing doesn't happen-but if this story had a more tragic bent I could easily see this occuring. But I do think that as things get more desperate, the grandmaster and his allies will likely consider the idea that dying as a human rather than living as a demon will be better- and well...it isn't a jump from there to mitigating demon conversions by just giving up hope and taking the bloody way out on matters. If the grandmaster winds up believing that curing the demonized is now impossible, he will likely purge any he suspects, and become ever more harsh. But I think that overall, if Collin learns that the reason for Gregory and the other's campaign is to get him back, it will likely mentally shatter him to the point of no return. He already feels guilty enough over the beast folk laying a threat on himself and his loved ones- if he figures out about gregory's motives, it's going to destroy him. As for the story I mentioned, I would argue it involves a kind of inverse corruption. The man in question is virtuous in the telling of the tale, and the ghost of him winds up shadowing every aspect of the woman's life, long after he's gone and in prison. In the end, her love for him, causes her to reshape herself and her actions for the better- and she cannot escape his presence in her life, even when he is not physically there, and it brings her grief and joy both. That I think to some extent is how Collin feels about his family now- they haunt him, and the love they once had only serves to further sow grief in him now, even as he misses and longs for their love again- but knowing that it will never be what it once was. It may well fuel his further actions as well. In this, and the heavy sense of doom (not so much in the sense of a curse, but rather that as a protagonist, the plot will catch up to him one way or the other) that lies over Collin, he reminds me a bit of Turin from the story "The Children of Hurin", though far less cocky than Turin was, he wants to do the right thing and help others, but it's likely he'll never make it to the finish line in the journey to do so- his doom will catch him first. Weather he become a demon or not- something is going to give. Much like Collin, Turin is often read to have been in love with a fellow comrade in arms- Beleg Cuthalion- one of the greatest warriors of the elven kingdom of Doriath. However, the curse surrounding led to their time together severed in the worst ways- in a fit of panic due to having been hurt by monsters, he swung his sword and killed his lover who had journeyed far to find him- and was left to grieve his lover's body and immortalize him in song, which he often sang ever after, until he too met death at his own hands amidst grief and despair after being made victim to pyschological torture at the hands of Glaurung- the Father of Dragons. That grief stricken fate is something I fear Collin may be inching ever forward to. One can hope his fate will be like Huor- who found love and solace in Gondolin after being enslaved for years after his homeland in Hithlum was overrun and was orphaned as a result, but even he met an uncertain fate- slumbering in a tower in enchanted seas until after some time he woke up, and only reaching where he wanted to when it was too late- though his fate was likely not an ill one- he did not die, but he did not achieve what he wanted- though his son- Earendil the Mariner- arguably did. I can only hope Collin will find hope in the end, rather than the shadow of the doom. We have the war and the finale left now, and I wonder what will become of Collin now. The others that have been altered will likely remain as they are, but Collin is much like Gil- the wild card. Gil tilted one way, but there is no reason to believe Collin will do the same. I think really, all I want now is for Collin to be happy and true to himself and his convictions- if that means he lives alone and comes to term with his grief- an exile in a land that is no longer human representing an age that no longer is, or anything else- I wouldn't mind. Daniel is likely going to go to some horrible extremes in the chapters ahead as he grows more desperate, the demons are still quite frightening, and those of the beastfolk are likely darker than when we last saw them- not evil in full, but noticeably more darker, as you've mentioned for the sake of bringing the world to be like them. I like to think sometime that this story is a story about how love can lead to great and terrible things in a way. For Gregory and the other may be changed, but they still love Collin- and that will never change, not matter how much they are not what they once were. In that, there is a endurance of compassion and love, but there is also the ever eerie specter of the ship of theseus in how lust and excess has changed them. The question however I suposse is that of this- many things associated with the magical I was taught, often come with a price- some easy to bear and some not. I wonder what Collin's price will be for his healing in the end, as well as the others as they plot and plan.

nice seeing this series back

First real lover... second spot... i see i see. Hmm, 6th sense, 7th heaven, twelfth night, 72nd Infantry... Wonderful story as always!

But like, maybe change the title of your story. Strange Fruit is a jazz standard where lynching victims hang from trees like a strange fruit. It’s just not a good look when you are talking about literal fruit that seems unusual.