Roll to Seduce (Purification / Yuri / Fluff) (Patreon)

A'nkatria, Dread Sorceress, Bane of Peace, Mistress of the Eight Dark Principles lounged on her throne, staring into a crystal ball on a pedestal in front of her. Sycophantic minions skittered about the room like the insects they were to her, a few occasionally daring to ask their Mistress what she wished of them. They had preparations to make - the tower was under assault and they had to make ready to repel the invader. But while they made their meager preparations, the Sorceress was only paying a token amount of attention; she idly strengthened the wards of the room, waved her hands to give each minion a protection and strength enchantment, and generally put only a token effort into the attempt; the magic glowed a faint gray, telling of her utter indifference to the task  - even that was enough to get the minions bowing and scraping in thanks for her blessings.

Truly, the Sorceress didn’t much care to set a defense. The final confrontation was at hand, and she was thoroughly looking forward to it. It was the climax of all the tales, the heroine standing alone against their all-powerful enemy! She would not have it spoiled by leaving the heroine drained of her strength and will from slogging through a swarm of sycophants and hangers on, rendered impotent by great magics. At that point, what is even the purpose of the dramatic capstone to the story? The heroine Sophia had already defeated her strongest subordinates; she had earned the right to challenge A’nkatria herself, and what kind of proper villain would she be if she didn’t indulge that?

Yes, the greatest villain of the age had been watching this heroine for some time. In her scrying orb the heroine cut a dashing figure, golden hair waving behind her as she ran up the final stairs, armor gleaming silver even through the scratches and dents and detritus of a long battle. She was the very image of a hero now; who but A’nkatria would ever know of the humble farmer’s daughter she’d been at the start of her tale? Rushing off with a rusty pitchfork after coming home from the fields one day to find her parents gone, conscripted into the ranks of the dread sorceress’ workforce, she had been pathetic back then - a wretch worth not even a second glance.

She’d had a chance to defeat her, early on - she’d known her quest from the first, and had watched her grow stronger. She’d even been confronted by her face to face while on a simple errand for some alchemical reagent or other - it would have been child’s play to smite her. But there had been a fire in her eye, and A’nkatria deigned to let her continue her quest in the hope she might one day provide some minor amusement.

And oh, how she had! The sorceress’ clothes glowed red as the battle neared, magic responding to her emotion, and the door started to splinter from Sophia’s attacks. What her minions might see as anger was misunderstood - no, it was passion, excitement, at the thought of facing down her nemesis!

The door burst in, and the heroine made her entrance. Striding forward through the debris, she walked right toward the dreaded sorceress. The minions attempted to attack, but with a wave of her hand, A’nkatria called them off; it would be a fool’s errand for such lowly cretins to attempt to strike down a hero, and would waste time and energy better spent elsewhere. “I see we have a guest!” A’nkatria called across the room, “Forgive the breach of propriety in not greeting you at the door! My subjects were so very eager to make your acquaintance, I couldn’t refuse them!”

“A’nkatria!” Sophia called in response, raising her glowing sword towards her foe. “Your reign of terror has gone on long enough! I don’t want to fight you, but I will if I must!”

“Ha! I’ve come too far to stop now!” A’nkatria replied, standing and raising her staff, magic flaring red-hot with her emotions, “I am the greatest sorceress of the age! The world is mine to rule, and one ‘hero’ begging me not to fight won’t end that conquest! Now, come at me, warrior, and face my dread magic!” The sorceress was enjoying herself, playing up the drama as much as she could. At this point, she didn’t much care for the outcome of the fight one way or another - she just wanted some fun! Life was so boring when you had phenomenal cosmic power…

Sophia sighed. “That’s why it’s so upsetting that I might have to fight you! You’re really a great magic user, you could do so much good… I don’t think you’re really as bad a person as you try to be, either. You have the potential to be a beloved heroine across the land, instead of a dreaded villainess!”

“Then have at you-” A’nkatria started, then stopped as she actually processed what the heroine had said to her. “...Pardon me? Is this some trick, to get me to lower my guard?” If it was a trick, well, it was working - A’nkatria was so confused that her guard was well and truly lowered.

But Sophia didn’t take advantage of that - though she was more than competent enough to notice and take advantage of the opening. “Of course not. I don’t lie, it bothers me.” Sophia said. “You’ve been watching me right? So you should know that whatever I say, I mean it!”

Despite herself, the dread sorceress’ cheeks began to color. It was hardly the first time she had been complimented. Such praise was not unusual. But she was used to slavish devotion and desperate brown-nosing from those drawn to her power or seeking to avoid her wrath - she was most certainly not used to a cute girl giving her earnest compliments. “I-I… yes… I know you are honest to a fault. But don’t think that simple compliments will sway me from my course! My resolve is not so weak!”

“Of course not, but that’s why I brought a lot of them!” Sophia said cheerfully. “Like I said, if I have to fight you, I will - but why should I? It’d definitely be a hard fight - you’re definitely as good as they say. I think your enchantments are probably your strongest type of magic though. Not so much about directly hurting me, but improving your minions and their magical items. Even a bunch of normal guys can become threats with your help! And don’t think I didn’t notice the health improving enchantments wrapped in with the usual strength and magical power improvements! I bet you work really hard to practice these spells for them right?”

“W-Well of course I do… a weak minion is useless in the face of power like yours…”

“But you did that even before I started getting strong. I think you just don’t want them to get hurt, right?”

“A-Ah… Mistress, we’re not worthy of your hard work!” One of the robed minions said, falling to his knees and prostrating himself at the revelation of A’nkatria’s efforts.

“Don’t treat it like such a big deal!” A’nkatria scoffed. “It was just to make you more useful!” Even as she said this though, she was getting too distracted - her magical spell turned inwards with her withdrawal from the argument, her state of mind far too disorganized for the offensive blast she’d planned and turning the spell into something more self-directed by accident.

The spell had been a simple magical blast. A’nkatria wasn’t one to open a fight with her  ultimate move, it wasn’t anything dramatic. But her magic was not a thing of long study and careful construction - a dark sorceress’ magic was raw and emotional and malleable. What was a simple magical blast warped with her confused, wildly fluctuating feelings. The heroine’s compliments turned A’nkatria’s attention to herself, and her attempts to deflect the praise and ignore it only made her embarrassment greater.

Her body began to shift, in ways that she didn’t make obvious at first - everyone in the room being otherwise engaged at the moment. She was shrinking where she stood; both in terms of her height (which had started out fairly impressive), and in her other assets. Her mature face took a slightly younger cast - not enough that it couldn’t be explained as a trick of the light yet. Even her clothes seemed a bit brighter, a little lighter and a little more concealing.

“Seee~ It wouldn’t embarrass you so much if it wasn’t true.” Sophia said. “You’re surprisingly sweet to you minions! I’ve had to fight a few bad guys while training to defeat you, and none of them treat their minions nearly as well as you. They just tell the minions to dogpile me and try to do something before I reach them, but you care enough to keep them from getting hurt needlessly. Every other minion I’ve had to fight is scared of their boss, but these guys love you!”

A’nkatria wanted to refute her further, but… she felt somehow warm, inside? It was… a new experience and unfamiliar emotions that she was feeling, and she just wasn’t sure how to handle them. She sat back down, suddenly feeling a little dizzy, which did a lot to hide her further decreasing height. “I… I just don’t see a point in a futile diversion, that is all…”

Meanwhile, the minion seemed practically on the verge of tears from how moved he was. “Ahhh… Mistress is too kind to us, truly…”

A’nkatria tried to settle herself and assess the situation. She wasn’t sure why she had to even do that, because nothing had really changed, but it certainly felt like it had. The heroine was surely just trying to distract her and her minions from their evil plot, that was it. Why else would she shower someone like her with compliments? And darn it, it was working, the fact that A’nkatria was even thinking about this meant Sophia was succeeding in diverting her attention! Diverted from… whatever it was she’d been doing, she had trouble remembering. “Y-You think you can come up here with your too-pure personality and-and your pretty face and way too optimistic ideas and distract me from my plan…”

“Thank you.” Sophia said, leaving A’nkatria flushing even brighter red as she realized what had slipped out. She buried her face in her hands and groaned - gosh, she was an idiot wasn’t she… “The way you’re squirming from the compliments is adorable~ Do you like them~?” Sophia teased.

“N-No, I don’t, obviously…” The sorceress mumbled, deeply unconvincingly. “I-I’m a powerful sorceress! I need no compliments!” And her rapidly beating heart could just shut up about it!

“Ehehehe, then I’ll keep giving you them~” Sophia teased. “You could do so much good for the world, Annie- Anne-katrina is hard to pronounce so I’ll call you that ok? - if you were just a hero instead! You’re cute, powerful, and caring! If you just stopped with the world domination business, everyone would love you.”

Annie - she couldn’t think of herself as anything else all of a sudden - just couldn’t take it. It was too much! Her magic was running wild, leaving her looking the same age as the teenage Sophia, and decidedly less villainous; her clothes covered more now, and dress had lightened even further to a silvery grey, with a not small amount of white in several places. Why should she be evil, she thought? It felt so good to be complimented like this… could she get it all the time?

Annie’s magic itself warped her body. She had to be perfect to fit Sophia’s rose-tinted vision of her. She couldn’t bear to let such a pure hearted girl’s view of her be tainted by the reality, so her magic changed that reality. “I… I can try it… I t-think… if you’ll have me…” she said, without even realizing what she was saying.

“Of course. I’ll be your first friend, ok?” Sophia said, reaching out a hand.

Sophia, in that moment, seemed absolutely radiant to Annie. In that moment, A’nkatria, the Dread Sorceress and bane of peace, was defeated soundly without a single swing of a sword. What was left was the white-mage Annie, in her white robe and oversized pointy hat, and an utter devotion to the heroine who had become her first friend and now first crush. Annie took the hand - and then blushed bright red and started mumbling to herself incoherently, as Sophia started to guide her out of the tower.

The minions looked between each other, not stopping them from leaving in their confusion. “...What do we do now? Mistress is so… changed.”

“She’s been corrupted by the heroine,” another added. “Cunning, to use her own powerful magic against her…”

“But the heroine is very honest… Should we bring her back…?” The third asked.

The fourth - the man who had been prostrate as the whole event unfolded - thought about this. “Perhaps… but… Annie is very cute… perhaps we should follow her still?”

By the time Annie and Sophia left the tower, they had a trail of people behind them - no longer minions, but fans of the newly formed adventuring duo. Annie didn’t seem to even notice, unable to take her eyes off her new crush.