Feeling disgusted, Alex turned her attention away from the girls giving her the stink eye and turned her gaze towards Nadel.

“So what are these tattoos?” She asked.

Nadel grinned when she heard Alex's question.

“They’re marks that show your rank in the gang. They’ll also make sure you don’t betray us or try to run off the moment you get a second of freedom. Now, let's begin.”

One of the girls behind Spada suddenly let out a protest, “Wait! Won’t that make us slaves?! I thought we were supposed to be free!”

“Mehehe! Did you think you had a choice? Well, you do in a way. You can accept the tattoo or die trying to run away from it, mehehe. Don’t worry though, it won’t affect you in any way...normally, that is. Just think of it as an explosive collar, mehehe. Now line up, or I’ll have Spada start chopping those pretty little heads off your necks.”

Spada placed her hand on her sword hilt, hinting that she was ready and willing to draw, leaving no room for negotiation. The group of girls stood frozen, not sure what they wanted to do. Should they forsake their freedom... or their lives?

Loka dragged herself forth, gritting her teeth through the pain of her broken leg and beaten body.

“You’re all pussies! I, Loka, will go first to accept this brand. You bitches don’t know what’s good for you. Sure, you became a magical girl by some stroke of luck, but you pieces of trash have no resolve. Get out of my way, you pieces of shit.”

The group of girls, though quite pissed and wanting to beat Loka’s head in for her remarks, still made a path for the injured girl to limp into the room.

Loka struggled her way inside, and managed to collapse on the chair next to Nadel before succumbing to her pain and breathlessly waiting for Nadel to begin her work.

Nadel smiled widely, "Since you’re so eager, I guess I'll make an exception. And also give you a special tattoo,on the house, even. Prepare yourself, the process is quite painful, mehehehe!"

Nadel dipped her pen in some strangely colored ink and quickly got to work, but only after having one of her assistants hold Loka down and pull up her hair. As soon as the pen touched Loka's neck, pain shot through her body, making her thrash and scream wildly.

She tried to escape, but her body was held tight, causing her to be unable to move even a single inch. Her screams echoed through the hall, making Spada laugh, and the group of new magical girls shiver in fear.

And that was only the basic mandatory tattoo… that of a black and white card, with a laughing joker in the center. When Nadel got to work on her special tattoo that fanned along Loka's body, she reached a new level of pain.

The blanks watched, as the veins popped along her skin, her muscles began trembling and even her bones could be heard cracking.

Alex and Sugar were quite shocked at how excited Nadel's face showed at the expense of Loka's pain. Her arm moved at a swift pace across her back, unfortunately though, they couldn't see the tattoo form on her back.

When Nadel finished the second tattoo, she smiled, and motioned for her helpers to carry the limp Loka away. Despite not being able to move her body, Loka still had some spark in her.

"See? You guys are all pussies, all on that weakass shit. Fucking Pussies..."

She was then carried away by one of the meat bags. To where Alex guessed to be the medical lab, to be healed. Before they carried her off, Alex caught a glance at Loka's tattoo. It was that of two green wings made in a complex manner that seemed to be moving.

It was just a glance, so she couldn't study it further. With Loka taken away, the girls in the group became braver after her caustic remark. They pushed Sugar and Alex out of the way and got their tattoos, one by one.

Most of them passed out from the blank tattoo meaning that Loka had some exceptional willpower to make it through the tattoo process awake.

Finally, it was Alex and Sugars turn for the tattoo. On Sugar's insistence, she went before Alex, since she didn't want to see her in pain. She didn't know if she would be able to control herself when she heard Alex's screams.

Sugar walked up the steps and laid down, gritting her teeth, preparing herself for the pain. Nadel got to work, stabbing the needle into Sugar, and causing her to yelp in pain.

Still, she tried to hold her screams in, she didn't want to show Alex a side of weakness. It wasn't in her pride.

Pride?

Such a thought ran through her mind. She never really cared about her face so why was she having such thoughts?

She didn't have the time to think it through, before a pain stronger than the peak of the solar eclipse smited through her.

"Shit! This is the pain Loka went through? Fuuuuuuuuuck!"

The pain made her scream in agony over and over, making her body convulse as Nadel started laughing.

"Mehehe~ This tattoo is going to be pretty good. You got a good base for a blank, girlie. This old lady is going to have to actually put in some effort!"

When she finished her remark, the pain shot up another level, causing all the blood veins to shoot up and stretch upon Sugar's skin. Before long, Sugar lost consciousness and lay limply on the table, twitching every so often.

Nadel finished the inking after an hour and had her carried away like the others. Alex could clearly see Sugar's tattoo, it was that of a pure sun, surrounded by clouds as dark as night. She then looked over at Alex and motioned her over.

She hesitated, before Spada pushed her forth, making her climb the steps quickly. Alex's face felt flushed and stood staring at the table, it was sleek black with white trim and strange carvings along the sides.

Nadel gave a cough, making Alex turn her attention to her. She saw that she was motioning for her to sit. She sighed and stopped stalling, laying down on the table face down.

Her body was locked down by Nadel's assistants. Having the prep finished, Nadel placed a hand on Alex's bare back and was given a shock.

Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

Talking over her back Nadel hissed.

"What is this, Spada?! This girl shouldn't be alive! Is this one of the boss’ monstrous creations?!"

Alex grew confused by her words. Why shouldn’t I be alive? What is she talking about? Did something happen in the ritual? Did it go wrong and I’m dying?!

"I assure you, Nadel, this blank was created in the ritual and was a normal girl before taking it. This blank is something the boss is quite pleased about, so she hopes you make her extra tattoo quite special."

Hearing that the blank before her wasn't an artificially created monster made Nadel relax. In fact, she felt gleeful. If the boss wanted a special tattoo, then she could bring out that ink.

"It means I'm allowed to use 'that'?"

"You have been given permission."

"Hehehehehe~ I thought I wouldn't live to ever use it. Such a grand day! I will have my finest work to date. Girl, you are quite lucky. Though try not to die.~ This is going to make the ritual seem like feathers tickling your toes."

Feeling a sense of danger, Alex responded scared, "Eh? What's going on? What are you guys talking about? Can't I just get a normal blank tat—"

One of the assistants ball-gagged Alex's mouth open, making her feel fear. She couldn't see what the three were doing, but one of them walked away. Shecame back not long after, and brought them out something that made her skin crawl with an unknown fear.

It could be quite said that only feeling fear was a fortune for Alex. Since she couldn't see what the assistant brought back. There were three massive jars of black, white and gold. The labels were as such; the blood of an emperor unicorn, the blood of the overlord Dullahan, and blood of a golden dragon.

Seeing the glowing ink containers, Nadel was skipping, practically jumping with joy. Finally, after all these years of hoarding this ink, she would be able to use it.

"Spada, I'm going to need those two drugs, the Concentrated Pixie Dust and Goblin Adrenaline. If I don't have those, her body won't be able to handle the strain.

Alex's thoughts were a mess, "Pixie Dust? Goblin Adrenaline? What the fuck are those kinds of drugs?"

Spada just shrugged her shoulders and dug through her ring.

"Here you go, the boss figured you would need them. Are you sure she will be able to handle the Goblin Adrenaline side effects? She might go insane because of that."

"Don't worry, she'll be fine. Probably. Maybe. Let's just say she won't go insane. Probably. Maybe. Fuck, at least she won’t be useless. Now that everything's here let's begin! Number one, Number two, open the jars!"

Doing as they were told, they opened the containers. The pair of jars, opened after so long, instantly sent out an aura that made Alex start sweating. With no remorse, Nadel injected the needles and poured the drugs into Alex's bloodstream, and began to work.

The drugs made her body instantly hot, and full of energy to just do something, anything, that thing. That wasn't all, her sexual desires were on fire, yearning to be touched and making her legs squirm.

Her mind was swimming when the needle touched her skin, and all that energy turned into waves of extreme pain and pleasure.

Dipping and poking along the back of Alex, Nadel herself was getting excited. She almost wanted to stop and attack one of the assistants, but she resisted the urge.

This would be her finest work ever! The celebration could wait until she finished the Magnum Opus of her life.

Seconds turned into minutes ,and minutes into hours. By then, the drugs were starting to wear off, and Alex had to be given another dose.

By now, she didn't know where the pain began, and where all the pleasure ended, the lines between them murked. It was driving her insane, as her muscles broke down and rebuilt, her blood bursting from her skin, and her bones turning to dust before reforming.

She even almost gagged on the black blood she was throwing up. But Nadel was only half done with the tattoo that went across Alex’s entire back.

It wasn't until six hours of torture had passed, that Nadel finished her work and took a gander from afar.

A large golden flaming pentagon covered her back that seemed to sway left and right. The pentagon's background was split in the middle that was black and white.

In the middle was that of a lifelike ouroboros, colored in white and black with gold trim. And in the center, was a horizontal golden roman number one giving off a majestic flair.

Whipping the sweat off her brow, Nadel did a stretch and gazed at her masterpiece after her assistants washed the blood off of Alex's body.

She knew that this would be the best work she would ever do in her life, and took a picture of the work and a selfie with it. Later, she would print it out and put it up on her wall to look back on.

As she was about to let Alex go, Spada coughed.

"Aren't you forgetting something?"

"Ah, the blank! I'll get it done in a jiffy! Hey, girl, clench your teeth, I'll get this done as fast as I can!"

Alex, who finally regained her sanity, groaned in agony and passed out, since the drugs had worn off. Nadel finished up the blank without fuss, and then took a photo with Alex's black.

Having taken care of the project she was somewhat dejected, letting Alex go. She wanted to see what effects that tattoo would have with a little testing.

"Hey, Spada, can you prolong the sending for at least a few days? I really wanna see that tattoo in action."

Shaking her head, Spada replied, "You know we can't delay the sending, it's been set for tomorrow. Don't worry, though. I'll be sure to send a video of the tattoo in action Master Gang-Inker Nadel."

"Humph! You better, Spada, or I'm going to chop off your hands and feet and throw you into the ocean to swim with the fishes!"