The Hero Became a Succubus! - Chapter 154

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Chapter 154

It was finally time to take the fight to the Commonwealth's enemies. While the grass was still wet with morning dew, Kanae gathered those who mattered most to the Cathedral of the Eminence of Sin. She stood at the pulpit with Arenade and Esta by her side, gazing at the loyal people before them. Children, fellow Sisters of Sin, and allies from other nations, but Edina was the only one missing.

Kanae took a deep breath before she began. "We'll begin our campaign by marching to Highgreen. According to forward scouts, the Queen-Mother's succubi have taken control of many villages across the Commonwealth. We're not sure which Mistress is leading them, but we're going to liberate them on our way. Facing a succubus is tricky, but I gave Rosaline and Eliza my blessings to concoct potions to resist their magic."

On that cue, Rosaline and Mikki, with the help of several Sisters of Sin, passed out three pink potions to each person that wasn't a succubus.

"Question!" Manabe raised his hand after receiving his share. "Does this mean we're all being mobilized to march towards Highgreen?"

"Only a portion of us," Esta answered promptly.

Arenade continued after her, "It's pretty obvious that succubi and demons can make it as far as Ehmvier, probably even farther than that. In order to make sure the city's safe, we're leaving a trusty handful of people behind."

The three of them turned to Marwin.

"I know you swore off fighting succubi, but can we rely on you to defend the ones here?" Kanae asked sincerely of her former mentor and master.

"As long as it doesn't involve slaying? Count on me, pupil! The great succubus city of Ehmvier is safe in my capable hands!" Marwin rubbed those gropey hands together with a lascivious smile on his face, staring at a few of the Sisters.

"It feels like my namesake is being molested here…" Arenade shuddered.

Manabe would guard the city in case of any sieges while they were away. The new Sisters of Sin were split in half. Zadris would stay behind as High Priestess of Ehmvier's flock with two dozen succubi and Ulric, and Lilith would take the other half to join the offensive.

A tight-knit force of 3,000 marched out of Ehmvier to war and intended to bolster their numbers along the way.

However, as Kanae followed up from the back, someone tackled her lightly from behind. She turned around but had to glance down to find who did it. Suvee clutched Kanae's waist while looking up at her with a pleading look.

"Mom, I want to come with you to see Dad!" Suvee exclaimed.

Nelly, who was supposed to be watching over the kids in their absence, came racing up to them and keeled over to catch his breath.

"Sorry, Kanae… I took my eyes off her for one second…" Nelly reached out for Suvee only for her to snap away.

"Sweetie, it's too dangerous out there. Stay here, and we'll bring Dad here instead. How's that?" Kanae asked, kneeling down to eye level with her daughter.

"I can fight, too!" She drew the wooden sword that Edina had given her.

"What's the hold up?" Arenade asked, returning from beyond the gate and realizing what was going on upon seeing Suvee.

Things went from inconvenient to worse when Teana, Mikki, Revah, Pan, and Kanade rushed over on the demon mutt, Tiny. They dismounted the beast in a huff.

"If Suvee goes, I go," Kanade declared.

"Oh, no." Arenade groaned into her hand.

"You're going to leave us behind again, Mama?" Teana stared up at her with a sullen look.

"You're taking Daya with you, aren't you? That means I'm going," Mikki said.

"If Mikki is going, I'm going," Revah added.

"My shamanistic magic can help. I know it! You're always trying to protect us, but we're practically adults. You can't keep sheltering us forever!" Pan exclaimed.

"Girls, you know I don't want to leave any of you. There are demons out there that want to capture you. You're safer here at home," Kanae tried to reason.

None of them were budging, and Nelly gave Kanae and Arenade an apologetic frown.

"Can't you just command them to stay with your magic?" Arenade whispered.

"I can, but it wears off after a while. What's going to stop them from chasing after us then?" Kanae sighed.

"Would you be okay with it if they're safe and sound then?"

A dozen hulking death knights marched down the city thoroughfare, scaring citizens and children alike away. They donned full suits of brutish black and silver platemail. Purple mists oozed from the gaps in their armor. Edina sat atop the shoulder of the foremost one. It kneeled down for her to jump and land gingerly on the ground.

The greatest necromancer in the world came with a new look. Her dark, lavender robes sported a collar of weathered raven skulls around her neck. She wore her brown hair in one thick braid in the back that draped the front of her chest. The Pillar of the Damned completed the new appearance, wielded tightly in her right hand. However, for how much different Edina looked now, it was the soft purple glow in her eyes that made Kanae uneasy. Arenade, too.

"I'll assign a death knight to each of your daughters. Undeads can't be mind controlled by succubus magic. Perfect, right?" Edina beamed.

When Kanae glanced back at her six daughters, who returned eager gazes, she wondered if she was like this as a teenager.

"Fine." Kanae relented to their raucous cheers, then quieted them down with a harsh, "But, you're all staying in Highgreen once we get there. Is that understood?"

"We understand!" they answered resoundingly.

The children hopped back onto Tiny. A much more elated Suvee joined her sisters on the demon mutt and raced ahead to join the army, flanked by their death knight bodyguards. Kanae heaved another sigh, watching them go.

"Edina, what the hells? If you kept your mouth shut, they might have stayed home!" Arenade confronted the necromancer.

"What's the problem? I'm way stronger now. Nothing's getting to them as long as I'm around. Besides, I care about them just as much as you!" Edina fired back.

"Okay, you two. Save the fighting for enemies and not friends." Kanae compelled them both with a charm but the magic only went through to Arenade.

"You'll be singing my praises once I've won this war for us," the necromancer said before walking off with Arenade glaring into her back.

Once it was just the two of them, the former demigoddess whirled around with that fury turned on blast at Kanae.

"You caved so easily! This is war we're talking about. Those kids should be here at home!" Arenade argued.

"I know, I know! But think of it this way, the kids are safer with us than being out of our sight. Don't you think so?" Kanae asked.

Arenade threw her arms up out of frustration.

"Then I might as well bring Nelly, too! Come on, Nelly!" she shouted, activating her Halo to fly ahead.

"M-Mother, wait! I can't fly like you!" Nelly exclaimed as he chased after her.

"Tough day?" Eliza asked, levitating in on a flying broom.

"No kidding…" Kanae unfurled her wings, and together with Eliza, hurried to catch up with the Commonwealth army.

Soaring into the skies, they saw now how much more massive their forces had grown thanks to Edina's undead horde. Their numbers practically doubled. The squirreling necromancer achieved this without so much as breaking a sweat. Before, she could only maintain one dragon and two death knights. The amount of mana she possessed in order to upkeep the entire undead army must be astronomical.

"Impressive," Eliza muttered. "I've heard tales of a single death knight laying waste to entire cities, but that necromancer now commands twelve."

"Good thing Edina's on our side," Kanae said.

"I hope so," she added ominously.

They traveled for the better part of the half week before finally encountering their first succubus-controlled village. The farming community of humans and elves grew all sorts of vegetables here, but most notable were their red cabbages. However, their farmlands were barren and crops wilted.

To avoid being noticed, Kanae ordered the rest of her forces to stay in place. She came out with only Esta and Pan. The latter's death knight bodyguard laid comically flat on the ground as much as possible to avoid being seen under the foliage. Poor thing.

"It's hard to tell from here if there is anyone around. What would you have us do?" Esta asked.

"Pan, you said you can help?" Kanae turned to her shaman daughter.

"Yep! Watch this, Mom." Pan dug her fingers into the dirt and uttered the skill, "Earthsense."

They waited for a few seconds before her eyes snapped open.

"Mm… There's two succubus and fifty-something villagers, all holed up in the barn right now. They know we're here. Got the villagers holding weapons, so chances are the poor folks are charmed," Pan explained while shaking the dirt off her hands.

"Earthsense?" Kanae asked.

"It makes it so that I can sense vibrations and weight in the earth!" she explained, rubbing the bridge of her nose.

Kanae stroked her daughter's head and beamed with pride.

Having learned some vital information, they returned to camp and relayed everything back to the others.

"Just two, huh? Lemme send in one death knight. I'll make quick work of 'em." Edina drove a fist into her palm, and the undeads around her mimicked the same action.

"That's no good." Kanae rejected the idea instantly. "The succubus pair will make the villagers fight to the death. Who knows what else they might try if the two get desperate. Which is why I'm going to test our new incubus friend, Vesh."

"Just give me an hour and those two will be eating out of the palm of my hand," Vesh said as he smoothed out the creases of his tunic to appear like a traveler.

While the incubus fearlessly headed into the village, Edina pouted quietly off to the side.

"What's the point of bringing an army if we're not fighting? You should be sending me in there, not some demon we can't trust yet!" Edina complained.

"I agree with High Priestess Edina," Lilith chimed in. "As succubi, we should be demonstrating our own strength."

The other Sisters of Sin were in agreement.

"There's going to be plenty of fighting soon. Besides, we need to think carefully about how we use our resources. Just think of this as giving the incubus a test run," Kanae explained.

They waited patiently for an hour to pass, and on the dot, Vesh returned with two unconscious succubi in a wheelbarrow. Lilith was speechless.

"What did you do to them?" Kanae asked in surprise.

"Well, they simply could not resist my dashing natural charm. I waltzed right in, schmoozed them up, and when they let their guards down, I whacked each of them in the back of the head with a club. Knocked the lights right out of them!" Vesh explained as a matter of factly.

"You're telling me… that's how an incubus fights?" Lilith gaped at the two succubus who had painful-looking bumps on their heads.

"Yes, that's exactly it. We aren't made for battle, but as long as we can get close without being noticed, a succubus can fall right into the palm of our hands with sweet words," he said.

Since the succubus pair was soundly defeated, Kanae ordered mages into the farming village to dispel the charm from them. To think, with the incubus' help, they were able to free people without shedding a single drop of blood. Well, the only casualty was that two succubus were going to wake up with massive headaches.

They wasted little time marching on. The next town was a city the size of Orturic, and Pan had bad news after using Earthsense.

"There's a lot more succubus in there, Mom. Maybe… 30. Could be more. I guarantee everyone inside is under their charm," Pan explained.

"What do you think, Vesh? Can you and your brothers handle it?" Kanae asked.

"Are you nuts? We handle a few at a time. Three succubus to an incubus is already pushing it! If even one of them is onto us, we're all fish out of water," Vesh said.

She gazed at him pitifully. "And I was beginning to think better of you incubi."

"Yeah, you tell that demon off!" her daughter sneered.

The modest city was home to a few hundred people. If they—

"Looks like this is where I come in then!" Edina stormed past them and out the treeline upon her death knights, marching straight for the city.

"Edina, wait!" Kanae cried and tried compelling her to stop, but the connection just wasn't there.

Why? It worked before, so why not anymore?

"That crazy ratwhore just charge out there?" Arenade asked, gasping for breath while leaning against a tree. "I fucking knew it!"

A battle unfolded right away with death knights charging through the city and bulldozing anyone in the way. The chaos they wrought flushed the swarm of succubi out of hiding, and they fought viciously but vainly against the undead to defend their newly claimed territory. The fight, however, was destroying homes and hurting innocent people whose only mistake was being charmed.

"Damn it… Esta, Arenade with me! Vesh, stay here with my daughter— don't touch her!" Kanae ordered.

The incubus tensed up and nodded without saying a word.

Three of them raced into the city. Many were injured and buried under rubble. Arenade casted a wide-reaching healing spell.

A large group of people emerged with pitchforks and farming tools in hand, gunning for Arenade.

"I didn't want to use this…" Kanae switched on Flashbang, then pulled her outfit aside.

Arenade and Esta turned away just in time. A bright flash of light surged forth from Kanae's nipples and blinded the horde. They tripped over each other, rolling on the ground with hands shielding their eyes.

"What was that?!"

"I can't see!"

"The titties… they're too bright!"

That was a lot more useful than I expected, Kanae thought.

"Go get our stupid necromancer, I'll help the people here! Holy Aurora, maximum spread!" Arenade incanted aloud. Her magic quickly restored wounds, and she used Plant Growth in conjunction with the dryad staff to pull people out of collapsed buildings.

Kanae and Esta headed deeper into the city until they reached an open plaza. A dozen succubi laid on the ground, groaning in pain. One of Edina's death knights lifted a succubus up to its shoulder where the necromancer herself was sitting.

"Where's the rest of you horn bats hiding? Tell me now, and I just might wait until you pass away before raising you from the dead," Edina threatened.

"As if… I'll sell out my sisters…" The succubus spat in her face.

"Wrong answer." She snapped her fingers, and the death knight began squeezing the life out of the succubus.

"Edina, let her go!" Kanae yelled.

Esta brought her greatsword down on the death knight's arm, severing it and freeing the succubus. A second thrusted a lance her way, but she blocked the blow with the greatshield. Kanae seized this chance to weave through the lesser undeads to get to Edina, but a third death knight bursted out from a house with a massive mace swinging for her.

"Master!" Esta cried.

A giant wall of earth and stone rose from the ground, shielding Kanae from the blow.

"I gotcha, Mom!" Pan grinned with her hands in the dirt.

"Pan? What are you doing? Get out of here!" Kanae shouted.

Just then, a fourth death knight— the one Edina had assigned to protect Pan— barreled down the street in her direction and was poised to slash her with a sword. Kanae threw herself into the hulking undead with the force of Titanic Blow, knocking it into the side of a building and burying it under rubble. Before anyone else could get hurt, she flew up to Edina and picked her up by her robes.

"Let go! I'm close to breaking them and finding out where the rest are hiding!" Edina growled.

"Edina, snap out of it! You almost hurt Pan!" Kanae cried.

The squirreling's demeanor softened. She glanced down at the terrified Pan, then back to Kanae. The fighting came to an abrupt stop, and the death knights and undead ceased their wanton destruction of the city.

"I-I'm sorry, I… don't know what came over me," Edina mumbled.

"Neither do I, but I don't want your death knights guarding my children anymore if they're going to turn on them like that. Keep them to yourself from now on," Kanae demanded.

Ashamed, Edina held Kanae's angry gaze for a few seconds longer before de-summoning them. A small detachment of Commonwealth forces and the Sisters of Sin led by Lilith entered the city. They split up to help the citizens and apprehend the succubi that were found.

Vesh staggered into the plaza out of breath.

"What happened to looking after my daughter?" Kanae glared.

"I was watching, but you said no touching! How was I supposed to stop her?" Vesh exclaimed.

"Sorry, Mom. I wanted to help." Pan stared down at her feet.

"No, it's okay. You saved me just now. I was just worried about you being safe is all." She embraced her daughter and kissed her on the forehead.

"Hey, Mom? Is Auntie Edina okay? I'm worried about her," Pan said.

In the midst of everything, it seemed Edina wandered off.

"I'm not sure, sweetie. But I'm worried about her, too." Kanae sighed.