Succubus World - Start with Incubus System

A second later, her breathing stopped completely.

The Succubus standing nearby broke into sobs. She turned toward her comrades, her voice catching as though trying to speak to all of them and to herself at the same time.

”If I don’t make it back, please tell my little sister I’m sorry. I don’t want to die... I really don’t want to die.”

No one mocked her.

On this wall, everyone was afraid of dying. Everyone feared being torn apart, feared becoming Undead, feared coming back to kill the people they had fought beside. But behind them were hundreds of thousands of people waiting to be evacuated, and children who had never seen what a battlefield looked like.

No one could retreat.

Nivoria cut down an Undead crawling over a pile of rubble. As black blood splashed across her face, she felt more resonance threads along the defensive line growing weaker.

Not one. Not two.

Succubus after Succubus losing connection with her Partner. Sector after sector of mana dropping away. Comrade after comrade slowing down within the span of a few minutes.

This wasn’t a malfunction.

Someone was leaving the command zone.

Nivoria looked toward the bunker behind the wall. A freezing premonition rose inside her, and the hand gripping her polearm clenched until the knuckles went white.

”Lyra.” She called.

”Here!”

”You lead the squad and hold this position. I’m going into the bunker to see what they’re doing.”

Lyra opened her mouth, but an explosion from up ahead swallowed whatever she meant to say. Nivoria didn’t wait for an answer. She spun around, ran down the blood-slick stairwell, and made straight for the command bunker.

Behind her, the howling of the Undead never stopped.

Nivoria shoved open the bunker’s metal door.

BANG!

The smell of blood, gunpowder smoke, and the heat of the battlefield poured into the room. Everyone inside turned at once, but the sight before her left Nivoria frozen for a second.

Three men stood at the far end of the room.

Two were thin, wrapped in spotless cloaks, their hair so carefully groomed that not a single strand was out of place. The third was so obese he had to sit in a specialized electric cart, his massive belly nearly hiding both legs. Around them, more than ten Succubi were packing luggage, pushing carts loaded with personal belongings, draping coats over their masters’ shoulders, and checking retreat routes on a magical display.

The map of the western sector was still lit up in blazing red.

But not one of them was looking toward the wall.

”Where do you think you’re going?” Nivoria asked. Her voice was very low, but her grip on the polearm had tightened.

One of the thin men turned to look at her. The first thing he noticed wasn’t the wounds covering her, but the trail of blood running from the armor at her hip down onto the stone floor.

”You’re dirtying the floor.”

Nivoria took another step. ”I asked where you’re going.”

The obese man in the cart sighed, his face full of impatience. ”Away from here. The barrier is already weak and the defensive line won’t hold much longer. We need to move into the inner safe zone before things get worse.”

”They’re still fighting out there.” Nivoria’s breathing turned ragged. ”Those Succubi are connected to you. The moment you left the range, the resonance weakened. They can’t regenerate mana, and their personal barriers aren’t stable anymore.”

”And?” the obese man asked, as though she’d just remarked on the weather.

Nivoria froze.

Another man adjusted his cuff and said flatly: ”If that position truly can’t be held, then letting them fight a while longer is a good thing. At least it buys us enough time to leave.”

The room went silent instantly.

The Succubi packing the luggage all bowed their heads at once. Some clenched their hands until they went white, some bit their lips until they bled, but not one dared to speak against it.

Nivoria looked at the three men, the rage in her chest nearly burning away her reason.

”Do you have any idea how many people are dying out there?” she roared. ”The best food, the safest places, the best resources all go to you. When war breaks out, Succubi stand outside the wall while you only have to sit in a bunker. Now they’re about to die, and you can’t even manage to stay here and maintain the connection?”

”Enough.”

The thin man standing in the middle spoke slowly. His voice wasn’t loud, but every Succubus in the room flinched. ”Nivoria, are you shouting in my presence?”

”I’m asking how you can abandon them.”

”Because their lives aren’t worth as much as ours.” He looked at her, the corner of his mouth curling coldly. ”Don’t forget your station. Men give you the chance to connect, give you your strength and your reason to exist. Your fighting, your earning, your serving us are all simply how things are meant to be.”

Nivoria gritted her teeth. ”Without you, we could still fight.”

”But without us, you’re just livestock that happens to hit a little harder.”

The man drew a small pen-like device from his pocket. Nivoria’s pupils contracted.

Click.

”AGH!”

A surge of purple electricity erupted directly inside her body. The polearm dropped from her hand, and Nivoria’s entire body curled inward from a pain like hundreds of needles piercing her soul. She crashed to the stone floor, hands clawing at the ground, her muscles shuddering out of control.

”You’re only a Succubus.” The man looked down at her, his finger still on the device. ”Don’t forget who holds the authority to give orders.”

Click.

The current intensified.

Nivoria slammed her shoulder against the floor. The wound at her hip tore open, and blood quickly stained the stone red. A young Succubus standing nearby burst into tears, but when the man turned his head toward her, she immediately bowed her head, tears falling without a sound she dared to make.

”You see?” The thin man bent slightly to look at Nivoria. ”It doesn’t matter how many die out there. Nothing changes. Because in the end, all of you will still bow your heads.”

Nivoria gasped for breath, blood spilling from the corner of her mouth. But when the comm device in the bunker crackled with cries for help, her pale blue eyes slowly opened again.

”Wall Three is breached!”

”Squad Four is down to under twenty people!”

”We need reinforcements!”

Nivoria heard every word.

She looked at the polearm lying not far away, then braced both hands and pushed herself up. Her legs shook so badly they could barely hold her, but she still staggered forward.

The thin man raised an eyebrow. ”What do you think you’re doing now?”

Nivoria didn’t answer.

The distance between them was barely five meters. For a combat Succubus, that was a single breath.

She lunged without warning.

A hand wreathed in red flame shot straight toward the device in the man’s grip. He hadn’t expected Nivoria to have any strength left to resist, and his face went white in an instant.

”Quick-!”

Click!

A current dozens of times stronger than before exploded through her. Nivoria’s body locked up mid-air before being thrown backward, her back slamming into the wall. Blood poured from her mouth, and her vision went dark for a moment.

The thin man dropped into a chair, his breathing ragged with fear. But within seconds, that fear twisted into rage.

”Tie her up!” He jabbed a finger at Nivoria, his voice shaking. ”Take this dog back to the safe zone. I’ll let everyone see what happens to a Succubus who dares attack a man.”

No one moved right away.

”I said tie her up!”

In the end, several Succubi could only step forward on trembling legs. They locked Nivoria’s hands in magical chains, hauled her to her feet, and escorted her out. Nivoria stopped resisting, not because she had surrendered, but because the current had drained nearly every ounce of strength from her body.

As she passed the bunker’s small window, she could still see the western wall.

Saw wave after wave of magic streaking across the grey sky.

Saw the tiny figures still fighting to hold the breach.

Saw a Succubus with an Undead’s claws driven through her shoulder still shove a comrade back to safety before she fell.

The man’s voice rang out coldly behind her.

”Retreat. Take her back to the safe zone and prepare a public execution for tomorrow.”

Nivoria clenched her chained hands. Blood ran from her palms onto the stone floor, but her eyes never left the wall.