The Incubus System Chapter 1268. Lordless

The Incubus System Chapter 1268. Lordless

He rolled his eyes like it physically pained him to be in our company.

Syntyche just gave him a slow, lazy smirk as she reached for a dried devil apricot, bit into it with deliberate grace, and turned toward him with her usual venom-laced curiosity.

“So,” she drawled, licking a bit of juice from her fingertip, “why’d you come storming into our very sweaty, post-orgasm rendezvous anyway?”

Her voice was all amusement, but her eyes? Calculating. Sharp.

Azrael rubbed his temple like he’d aged a century in the last hour. “I actually came to talk about what happened in the capital yesterday.”

That sobered the air slightly. Not all the way—there was still too much sex in it for that—but enough to shift the tone. I straightened up a bit, wings twitching once before folding tighter to my back.

“Beel’s attack?” I asked.

Azrael nodded. “Yeah. And… Zatan's death too.”

Syntyche blinked at me. “Ah. Then you found the killer. Makes sense now.”

She gestured toward me with her wineglass. “Congratulations. The messy-haired half-angel with the stamina of a dragon and the diplomacy of a kitchen knife is your guy.”

I shrugged. “What can I say? I multitask.”

Azrael didn’t laugh. He just stared at me. Serious again. Wrath Lord mode.

“I don’t care about the deaths,” he said. “Honestly? I knew one day, sooner or later, they’d fall. Either by the King’s hand… or yours.”

He let that sink in.

I didn’t argue. I knew what I did. What I had to do. They didn’t leave me many options.

“But,” Azrael continued, “now that they’re gone, we have a new problem.”

Syntyche sighed. “It never ends.”

“Zatan and Beel’s territories don’t have rulers now,” Azrael said. “And you know what happens when a city goes lordless.”

My stomach sank slightly. “Power struggle.”

He nodded grimly. “Exactly. Every lower lord, every ambitious warlord, every political parasite who thinks they’re the next big thing is going to claw their way into the spotlight. They’ll fight. Scheme. Backstab. All to prove who’s ‘most capable’ to claim the vacant thrones.”

Syntyche leaned forward, expression thoughtful now. “They’ll start with influence, maybe bribes. Then sabotage. Then open duels before the week ends.”

“Lovely,” I muttered. “And here I was thinking we’d get at least three days of peace.”

Azrael crossed his arms, gaze locked on mine. “Some of the contenders will be from their inner circles. Zatan had generals. Beel had mancers. All of them loyal to their old lords—or at least pretending to be—until now.”

I dragged my hand through my hair. “Can’t Lord Damon just appoint someone? You know, stop the power vacuum before it spirals?”

Azrael grunted. “He can. But only temporarily. A steward, a placeholder. Someone to keep the city running and avoid full-on anarchy. But if it’s a permanent seat? That has to be decided by claimed through power.”

“Which means,” I said, slowly, “a battle.”

He nodded. “Or a test of might. Politics. Alliances. Whatever the old-school demons want to make it. But someone will rise. And if that someone’s a lunatic with a god complex, we’re back where we started. And we hadn’t doing this for… centuries.”

Syntyche tilted her head, thoughtful. “If they want chaos, it’ll be chaos. That region is still destabilized. The people are scared. Anyone who offers protection will gain influence fast.”

“Which makes it worse,” I muttered. “Because if it’s all about might, the strongest might not be the best.”

Azrael nodded grimly. “Exactly.”

I sat there, chewing the inside of my cheek, trying to think through the implications. The war just ended. The capital was still smoking. We’d just buried bodies. And now two of the main pillars of the Underworld power structure had snapped.

And everyone was watching to see who’d claim them.

I could already imagine the vultures circling.

“Damn…” I exhaled. “I didn’t think this far ahead. I was too busy making sure they died. I didn’t consider what came after.”

“You weren’t wrong to act,” Azrael said, a little softer. “What you did was necessary. But now it’s your responsibility to help shape what comes next. Especially if you’re planning to rule.”

Syntyche ran her fingers along the rim of her glass. “You can’t have two cities under one lord either, right?”

Azrael nodded. “Correct. No one can hold two thrones at once. Power has to be distributed. So even if someone like… say, me wanted to step in and control one of the cities until things stabilized…”

“Too much power concentrated,” I finished. “You’d get accused of empire-building. Which means… we really need new lords.”

“Exactly.”

I sat back in the couch, my head tilting toward the ceiling, wine forgotten in my hand. My mind was spinning with names, faces, factions. Who was trustworthy. Who was competent. Who wouldn’t try to turn the city into a blood circus or a pleasure cult.

Or worse, a theocracy.

Those were always the worst.

Syntyche, as always, stayed calm. “I can recommend someone.”

Azrael’s head whipped toward her. “You?”

She gave him a lazy smile. “You think I only collect lingerie and poisons? I have people.”

I glanced at her. “We’ll talk. But I don’t want to just replace one tyrant with another.”

“I know,” she said. “That’s why I’m offering you names that don’t even want the throne. Just people who can stabilize things until it’s ready to stand.”

Azrael stared at her for a beat longer, then gave a reluctant nod. “I’ll look into the candidates. But you’ll need to organize something. A summit. Something public. Something that shows you’re not just hiding in this castle banging spider royalty.”

I rubbed my temples. “Yeah, yeah, I know. A conference. Maybe after the capital calms down. Right now if I push anything… I might make things worse.”

“You will,” Azrael confirmed helpfully.

“Thanks.”

The war was over…

And the rebuilding had just begun.

But this wasn’t just politics.

This was about legacy.

If I really wanted to rule—not just survive, not just protect my women and allies—but actually lead…

Then I’d have to build a kingdom worth inheriting.

Not just from Damon.

But from me.

And yeah…

I had a hell of a lot of work to do.