The Incubus System Chapter 1240. Adopted
The Incubus System Chapter 1240. Adopted
The mom’s expression didn’t move. Like her face was physically stuck in don’t engage mode.
“Your… pet?” she asked slowly, like I’d just claimed ownership over her grocery cart.
“Yeah,” I said, trying my absolute hardest not to sound insane. “He’s mine. Name’s Buni.”
Her face was now stuck somewhere between disbelief and alarm.
Buni, of course, betrayed me further by flopping dramatically into her lap like he was born to be adopted.
The kid gasped. “Can I keep him?”
“No,” I said quickly, stepping forward. “He’s not a stray. He’s just… independent.”
The mom looked like she was about to call animal services on me.
“I mean—he’s safe!” I added. “Mostly. Unless you give him sugar.”
The woman stood slowly, scooping her kid up like I was radiating airborne diseases.
“I’m so sorry,” she said, backing away fast. “We thought he was a support bunny or something…”
“He is,” I mumbled. “Support for emotionally damaged uh…” I almost said Nephilim but decided to swallow it. “Look, it’s complicated—”
But she was already walking off.
Fast.
Leaving me standing there holding a rabbit.
And a growing audience of people pretending not to be filming.
“…Cool,” I muttered to no one. “Just gonna go walk back into the shadows now.”
Shadow hopped to my other shoulder and padded up beside me with the grace of a smug little menace. “At this point, it’s a miracle they haven’t tranquilized you.”
“Don’t tempt fate,” I growled, adjusting Buni under one arm like a furry backpack of shame.
Rave whistled. “Well, at least the kid liked you.”
“I’m still thinking about stealing the weapon back from the military,” I said darkly. “Mostly out of spite now.”
Red barked in approval. Buni snuggled smugly into my coat like he didn’t just ruin my already fragile public reputation.
And I kept walking.
Because clearly, this day was far from over.
And honestly?
I wasn’t sure what was worse.
The fact that I now had to infiltrate a military facility to retrieve a cursed soulblade…
Or the fact that half the city now thought I was a pajama-wearing bunny cultist.
Probably both.
Equally cursed.
Just my luck.
After another long minute of being judged by confused civilians and emotionally betrayed by my own demon bunny, I finally found an alley with no witnesses, no stray cats, and no one filming me from behind a bench.
Perfect.
I yanked my portal skill and stepped up.
And then—whoosh.
My living room.
And on the sofa?
Larry.
Chilling like a king on the morning sugar crash. Sprawled sideways across the cushions, chewing lazily on the crust of a slice of extra-cheese pepperoni like the world wasn’t falling apart outside. His hoodie was half-on, half-off. One sock. Blanket wrapped around his waist like a robe. Remote in hand. TV playing some old show rerun involving magical girls fighting aliens with friendship and questionable physics.
Meanwhile, at the dining table…
Puriel and Celia sat like actual civilized beings, sipping from porcelain cups, having breakfast like nothing. There were pancakes. Fruit.
I blinked. My boots squeaked softly on the floor.
Larry glanced up.
“Yo, dude,” he said through a mouthful of pizza. “How’s the cursed weapon thing? Did you find it yet? That demon sword, what’s-it-called?”
I didn’t answer right away. Just dragged my feet toward the sofa, plopped down beside him with the grace of a very tired gremlin, and grabbed the last piece of pizza from the box like I was claiming war loot.
Bit into it.
Savory. Warm. Greasy. Maybe the only thing holding my soul together right now.
“The military took it,” I muttered, chewing.
Larry blinked.
“…Okay,” he said slowly. “What?”
I frowned back. “What?”
He cringed and squinted at me. “That military took it thing. That was a joke, right?”
I kept chewing.
“Nope.”
Larry sat up straighter, actually pausing the TV like the gravity of my words short-circuited him.
“I’m a demon hunter,” he said flatly. “You’re telling me the human military snatched a cursed demon soulblade from under the association’s nose? That’s... that’s not real. That’s some kind of fanfiction scenario.”
“I wish,” I muttered, grabbing a napkin. “But yeah. They pulled some legal strings. Classified reroute. Claimed HQ was unstable and decided they could ‘keep it safer.’” I made air quotes with my greasy fingers. “And now they want to use it for military energy experiments.”
Larry made a noise like a dying goose. “They’re going to use a bloody sword forged in the fourth layer of Hell as a battery?”
“Yeah.”
Larry stared at me for a full five seconds.
Then he facepalmed.
“Okay, what the hell? Seriously. What. The. Hell.”
I threw my arms up. “Tell that to the government, man. I’m not the one trying to give a cursed blade to science bros with a death wish.”
Larry leaned back into the couch with a long, haunted exhale.
“So… what’s your move now?”
I wiped my hands on the napkin and dropped it onto the box like it was a declaration of war. “Waiting on coordinates from Clea. She said she’d send me a few potential locations.”
“Then what?” he asked.
“Then we go full heist mode and steal it back.”
He gave me a look. “Seriously?”
“I’m serious,” I said. “I’m about three sleep-deprived hours away from kicking down a military door and telling them, very politely, that they’re playing hot potato with a death stick.”
Larry whistled low. “Damn. I miss when your problems were just ‘I fell asleep in class’ or ‘can I copy your assignment.’”
I huffed and slouched. “Same. But you can’t copy my assignment.”
There was a long pause while the TV flickered quietly in the background.
“Also,” I groaned, dragging a hand through my disaster hair, “college is about to start. Can I not deal with a cursed weapon war right now? Just once?”
Larry tilted his head. “Nah. I don’t think so.”
“What, you psychic now?”
“Nope. I watched the news this morning.” He reached for the remote and unpaused the feed. “They said all schools and colleges are getting at least a one-week delay. Emergency cleanup, rebalancing schedules, blah blah, demon attack aftermath stuff.”