Blade Over Magic

Mira

Hearing the voice and feeling the cold blade against her neck, the creature’s eyes grew wide, then...

BOOM

A blast of illusory radiance erupted from their position, and from the smoke, the demonic figure shot out, her expression alarmed and solemn as her wings spread wide behind her.

’He’s conscious within his soul? But how?’ As she had that thought, the hypnotic patterns on her wings began to glow. Under normal circumstances, anyone who was hit by the attack they unleashed would instantly fall into a deep sleep. And if she used it on their soul body, their soul would endure a powerful shock, rendering them defenseless for a bit.

But before she could even get the attack off...

Two red lines appeared on both of her wings, and here eyes went wide as blood spilled. A muffled scream escaping her mouth as her body fell.

Xander shook her head and snapped his fingers.

Dozens of the swords around him flew out of their flowers as from them, illusory figures appeared grasping each sword. To a normal person they would see nothing. But to Xander, each sword was wielded by a version of ’himself’ in a certain point in time. And these projections shot at the falling figure.

Gritting her teeth against the pain, she rotated her body and shouted.

| Sleep! | Her voice carried authority as it rippled out. But before the sound could even properly travel outwards...

ZIING

Another red line appeared within the Garden. But it didn’t target her, but the attack itself, dispersing it in front of her eyes.

’What... is this?’ Her pupils constricted as she finally landed on the ground, and waiting for her were the projections.

She didn’t hesitate.

Tugging on the connection between her body and soul, she tried to pull herself out of there.

Keyword tried.

Another red line appeared right above her head, and an invisible connection was severed as suddenly, she found herself unable to leave this place.

Then just as the projections were about to reach her.

”Wait wait wait! I give up!” All sounds of combat ceased, and the demonic figure whose eyes were closed, slowly opened them.

Sweat dripped down her charming face as she saw multiple swords stopping just inches away from her body. She also noticed that, terrifyingly, none of them were aimed at vital spots.

They wholly intended to impale her in such a way that would render her immobile!

She gulped and looked forward at the soul body of Xander that was approaching slowly.

’What a scary human...’ Her mind spun as she attempted to do a risk assessment, then...

Another red line, and she suddenly found out that the connection she had with anyone she could contact outside was also severed.

Xander reached her at this moment and aimed his sword at her face.

When he did, he felt Abscinde tremble slightly in his hand, and in the back where its large dormant flower was, the petals trembled as it looked as though it would open up at any moment.

’A resonance?’ He wondered as he looked at the very terrified, very beautiful female entity whose trembling eyes constantly moved between his face and the sword he held.

”What are you?” He asked straight up while also wondering.

’Is this what Samuel was referring to when he said I shouldn’t be hasty? A demon? How did she even get into this place?’ Xander frowned slightly, and the demon quickly answered.

”I-I’m a S-Succubus.”

”And what is your purpose here?” He pressed, and her breath hitched before tears welled up in her eyes, making her suddenly look very pitiful.

”I... hic... I didn’t... mean any harm... I swear...” Her voice trembled, her figure appearing smaller. It made one want to protect her. Any feelings of anger dissipating immediately as—

A line appeared across on of her horns, and it slid down before falling to the floor.

The Succubus froze, the eye underneath the cut horn turning red as a bloody tear dripped down her face, then she shrieked.

”AH! For Fuck’s sake WHY WOULD YOU GO AFTER THE HORNS?!” She fell to the ground as she crawled her head. She seemed more in pain now than when Xander sliced her wings off.

’Not to self, the horns are a sensitive spot.’ He noted down the information as he observed her intent. While inside the Garden, he discovered that his ability to perceive intent was far more potent. As such, her attempts to charm him by appealing to his fancy failed miserably when all her feelings were out on display.

”So will you talk? Or should I slice the other horn off.” Hearing this, the Succubus froze, then she slowly sat down on the grass, her tail wrapping around her legs in a self-soothing manner. Coupled with her devilish figure and scanty clothing, she really was hard to resist.

She rested her chin on her knees and sniffled, wiping the blood on her cheek.

”You’re mean.” She sounded like she was... moping.

Xander didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.

”... My job is to gather information.” She mumbled reluctantly. ”When I saw you, I recognized you from my superiors who deemed you a human of high importance. When I reported this, they said I should try to charm you, making you my thrall. And if that failed, then I should just collapse your soul.” She puffed out her cheeks.

”Those old geezers. They must have known that I’d fail. How would they fail to inform me that you were actually a monster.” She glanced up at him with watery eyes, her gaze landing on Abscinde.

”And a demonic weapon at that. I’m guessing you got it from that fledgling at that military town.” It took Xander half a second to realize she was talking about Landor, then his eyes sharpened.

”You... were you involved in that incident? Whether directly or not?” He stepped forward, and the Succubus’s eyes constricted as she felt the entire Garden tremble. Xander’s eyes turned far colder, and she seemed to realize that she had to pick her next words very carefully.

After a moment of hesitation, she shook her head.

”... No. I wasn’t involved. I wasn’t even there. This is my first official ’assignment’. Besides, it’s not like the demons that did that matter and the ones doing this one are on good terms.” She huffed, and Xander observed her intent closely before exhaling. She was telling the truth.

The coldness faded, and she had to gasp a bit. She felt like a weight had been lifted off her chest, but only slightly.

”What do you mean ’not on good terms’?” She glanced at him and scoffed.

”Right, humans and your prejudice.” She rolled her eyes. ”Demons aren’t a single race. It’s an umbrella term. Everything born in Hell is a demon, but there are still subspecies, factions, and so on. I’m a Succubus, the faction I’m aligned with deals with information gathering and manipulation, which is what I was doing here. The ones that tried to make the Hell Gate belong to another faction made up of another demonic species. And the faction I’m in isn’t on good terms with them.” Xander blinked. That... was not what he was expecting.

”So... what? Your faction gets information to sell it? Like an information network?” He mused, and her eyes showed a trace of surprise.

”Huh, you clocked that quick.” She was silent for a few seconds, then she asked.

”Are you... gonna kill me?” She sounded almost... resigned.

Xander looked at her.

”Depends, have you killed anyone before?” She raised a brow.

”What kind of question is that? Of course not.” Xander sighed, then paused.

”Wait... of course ’not’?” He was confused, and she looked at at him with even more confusion.

”Uh, yeah? I’m a Suc-cu-bus. Killing people doesn’t get me anything. Now seducing, that’s a different story. But killing? Jeez, you people and violence.” Xander’s eye twitched.

”You tried to turn me into a thrall.” She flinched, then retorted.

”Well, yeah. But I was only following orders!” Xander looked at her flatly.

”The orders you said told you to dissolve my soul if controlling me failed.” Her face froze, and she looked away.

”Look, it’s my first job, okay? Besides, I wouldn’t have actually killed you. I would have... tried to... you know.” Xander raised a brow.

”What?” He pressed, and she brought her hands to her cheeks.

”W-Well, I couldn’t help but notice just how... sturdy your body is. Your muscles are so dense, and you’re so warm too. Killing you would have been a shame...” She began to ramble as she actually drooled a bit. Getting lost in her imagination.

Xander stared at her agape. What was even worse was the fact that this wasn’t an act. With his vision, he could clearly see several pink, lustful intent lines radiating from her.

’... Right, Succubus. That... that makes a lot of sense.’ He pinched the bridge of his nose, then he asked.

”What’s your name?” His words snapped her out of her daydream, and she coughed into her fist.

”Ahem. M-Mira.” She replied, and Xander nodded slowly as he considered.

’Hm... Now what?’