The stony forest was unnervingly still.
Jagged black trees with bark like cracked, dried flesh stood densely across the landscape. Their branches twisted like skeletal limbs, and faint greenish veins pulsed beneath the surface. The ground was littered with sharp obsidian-like stones, and the air carried a thick, metallic scent mixed with sulfur.
Lucas stood in a small clearing, his long black coat swaying gently. His greatsword was buried deep into the body of a wolf-sized insect. The creature had a charcoal-black exoskeleton lined with glowing magma-like veins. Instead of eyes, it possessed dozens of small, ember-like sensory pits across its head.
[Ashborn Crawlers (F-Rank)]
With a sharp twist of his wrist, Lucas cleaved the insect cleanly in two.
A thick spray of greenish blood burst outward as the two halves fell to the ground. For a brief moment, everything was silent.
Then, the severed halves began to swell rapidly.
Lucas's eyes narrowed.
"Troublesome."
He vanished.
Shadow Step.
In the very next instant, the two halves detonated violently. A dense cloud of greenish gas exploded outward, spreading across the clearing in a choking wave. The gas carried a sharp, acrid stench that burned the eyes and throat.
Had Lucas remained even a fraction of a second longer, he would have been caught in the blast.
The Imp's voice rang sharply in his mind.
"Master—behind you!"
Lucas reappeared several meters to the left, completely avoiding the toxic cloud. A few stray wisps of gas brushed against his coat, but he remained unaffected.
Before he could stabilize, more skittering sounds erupted from the surrounding woods. From between the twisted, husk-like trees, over a dozen of the same magma-veined insects emerged. Their ember-like sensory pits twitched rapidly as they locked onto him.
They didn't rush in blindly.
Instead, they spread out with unsettling coordination, gradually forming a wide circle around him. Their magma veins pulsed brighter with each step, low chittering sounds echoing between them.
Lucas slowly drew Voidreaver from his back. The massive greatsword hummed as dark violet energy coiled along its blade. He rested it on his shoulder, his gaze calm and cold as he observed the growing encirclement.
Then, the insects attacked.
Three of them lunged forward simultaneously from different angles. Their serrated front legs slashed toward him with surprising speed.
Lucas didn't retreat.
He stepped forward and swung Voidreaver in a wide, horizontal arc.
BOOM—!
The greatsword connected with the insect in front of him. The sheer weight and power behind the swing split its exoskeleton with a sickening crack, sending greenish blood and fragments of carapace flying. The force was so heavy that the creature's body was nearly cleaved in half before it even hit the ground.
At the same time, Lucas twisted mid-swing and slammed the flat of the blade into the second insect on his right. The creature was sent flying several meters, crashing into a black tree with a heavy thud.
However, the third insect managed to close in.
Its front legs slashed across Lucas's side. The serrated edges tore through his coat and scraped against his ribs with a sharp, grinding sound. A burning sensation spread across his side as greenish blood from the insect's legs seeped into the shallow wound.
Lucas grunted, his expression darkening.
Before the insect could retreat, he drove his knee upward, smashing it into the creature's underside with brutal force. The impact caved in part of its exoskeleton with a wet crunch. As it recoiled, Lucas spun and brought Voidreaver down in a heavy overhead strike.
CRACK—!
The blade split the insect's head open, sending another spray of greenish blood across the obsidian ground.
But there was no time to breathe.
More insects were already closing in from behind and the sides, their legs skittering rapidly across the stones as they tried to surround him.
Lucas clicked his tongue, a dangerous smile slowly spreading across his face.
"Persistent bastards…" he muttered. "But I'm not normal prey either."
Just as the insects were about to corner him from all sides, Lucas stopped suppressing the Buff he had been granted.
[Abyssal Authority]
A dark, oppressive pressure exploded outward from his body.
The air grew heavy. An invisible, suffocating aura spread across the clearing like a wave. The insects that had been charging toward him suddenly froze mid-motion. Their ember-like sensory pits twitched violently, and low, fearful chittering sounds escaped their bodies.
Some of the weaker insects even took a step back, their legs trembling as instinctive fear gripped them. The stronger ones hesitated, their previously coordinated movements breaking apart.
Lucas stood in the center of the encirclement, Voidreaver resting on his shoulder, his long black coat swaying gently. The dangerous smile remained on his face as he looked at the now-disrupted swarm.
He rolled his neck once, the joints cracking softly.
"Now then…"
His eyes glowed faintly with abyssal energy.
"Let's clean this up."
***
Far away from Lucas's location, in a dense, mist-covered region of Pandemonium, Yuna was being hunted.
Two first-year students from the Brotherhood faction were chasing her through the twisted black forest. One wielded a long spear, while the other carried a pair of curved daggers. Their reason for targeting her was simple — since they couldn't openly hunt Lucas without consequences, they chose the next best target: the girl publicly involved with him.
"Stop running, bitch!" the spear-wielding student shouted. "You can't escape forever!"
Yuna didn't bother replying. Her pink eyes glowed faintly as she weaved between the mana-draining trees. Even while being chased, her movements remained graceful and silent, like a shadow slipping through the forest.
However, the two students were faster than she expected. The dagger-wielding student suddenly accelerated and threw a small glowing orb ahead of her. The orb exploded mid-air, releasing a burst of bright light and a concussive wave that forced Yuna to stop and cover her face.
"Got you!" the spear-wielding student grinned as he closed the distance in an instant. He thrust his spear toward her back without hesitation.
But just before the spear could pierce her, Yuna's body dissolved into a burst of pink mist. The spear passed through empty air.
The student's eyes widened in shock.
"An illusion—?!"
Before he could even turn around, a sharp shriek cut through the air.
Yuna reappeared directly behind him. With a clean, horizontal slash, her rare-grade dagger sliced cleanly through his neck. A violent spray of blood erupted as his head was separated from his body. His corpse collapsed to the ground with a heavy thud.
Yuna stood there, her long black hair swaying gently. Her pink eyes glowed ominously in the mist-covered forest as she slowly turned to face the remaining student.
"You two really picked the wrong person to chase," she said quietly, her voice carrying a dangerous edge. "I was already in a bad mood."
The dagger-wielding student froze for a second, staring at his fallen comrade in disbelief. Then his expression twisted with rage and fear.
"So what if you took that idiot out?!" he shouted, gripping his daggers tightly. "I won't be caught off guard like him!"
Yuna's lips curved into a small, mocking smile. She twirled the bloodstained dagger in her hand once before lowering it to her side.
"Try it then," she said softly.
The remaining student gritted his teeth and charged at her with a furious roar, both daggers flashing as he closed the distance in a desperate rush.
He didn't even last ten seconds.
Yuna moved like liquid shadow. She sidestepped his first wild slash, her body twisting with unnatural grace. Before he could recover, her dagger flashed twice — once across his right wrist, once across his left. The blades cut clean through flesh and bone with a wet, sickening shlick.
"GAAAHHHH—!!"
Both of his hands dropped to the ground, still clutching the daggers. Blood sprayed violently from the stumps as the student stumbled back, eyes wide with horror. Before he could even scream again, Yuna swept low and sliced through both his legs just above the knees in two clean, merciless cuts.
He collapsed instantly.
The man hit the ground hard, rolling and thrashing as blood poured from all four severed limbs. His screams echoed through the mist-covered forest, raw and broken.
Yuna stood over him, breathing calmly. There was no excitement on her face. No thrill. No guilt.
She simply stared down at him with cold, detached eyes.
'I didn't feel anything,' she thought, glancing briefly at the headless corpse a few meters away. 'Killing him felt no different than stepping on a bug. He wasn't even worth the effort.'
Her gaze then shifted to the pair of sleek black daggers in her hands — the rare-grade weapons Lucas had bought for her. They felt perfectly balanced, almost like an extension of her own arms. A small, genuine smile tugged at her lips.
'He really does take care of me…'
The student beneath her was still wailing, tears and snot mixing with the dirt and blood on his face. His body twitched violently from shock and pain.
Yuna crouched down slowly. She reached out, grabbed his hair roughly, and forced his head up so he had no choice but to look at her. His tear-filled eyes met hers.
Her voice dropped into a low, seductive whisper that seemed to melt into the air itself.
"Now… you will be a good boy and answer my questions, right"
The student's broken mind tried to resist for half a second. But the moment he looked into her glowing pink eyes, something inside him fractured completely. A sweet, heavy scent — like warm honey and sin — flooded his senses. His pain faded into the background. His thoughts grew hazy, sluggish, and strangely pleasant.
Yuna's succubus bloodline wrapped around his soul like invisible silk.
His weeping stopped.
His eyes slowly lost focus, then began to reflect her pink hue like a mirror. The tension in his face melted away, replaced by a dazed, obedient expression.
"Yes…" he answered in a flat, robotic voice. "I will tell you…"
Yuna tilted her head slightly, her long black hair falling over one shoulder. Her pink eyes glowed brighter as she leaned in closer, her lips almost brushing his ear.
"Good boy," she whispered. "Now speak. Who gave the order?"
The student's mouth moved on its own, the words spilling out without resistance.
"It was… Senior Mark. He said you were Lucas Vanderbilt's woman… and that hurting you would provoke him. The Brotherhood wants to use you as bait… or as a message."
Yuna's expression didn't change. She simply listened, her face calm and unreadable.
After a few seconds, she let go of his hair. His head dropped back to the ground with a dull thud.
She stood up slowly, twirling one of her daggers between her fingers. The pink glow in her eyes slowly faded back to normal.
"Mark…" she murmured under her breath, tasting the name like something bitter. "So that cockroach is still crawling around."
She looked down at the limbless, broken student one last time. There was no pity in her gaze.
Without another word, she raised her dagger and drove it cleanly through his heart.
The student's body jerked once, then went still.
Yuna pulled the blade out slowly, watching the blood drip from the edge. She wiped it clean on the dead man's clothes with casual indifference before sheathing both daggers.
She turned her head slightly, staring into the mist-covered forest.
Her pink eyes narrowed.
"…I need to find Lucas."
***
On my Patreon, you get immediate early access to the next several chapters (they're already written and waiting), plus a whole library of exclusive stories, bonus scenes, alternate endings, and spicy content I can't share anywhere else.
https://www.patreon.com/c/DevilsWhisper