The Incubus System Chapter 1365. The Right to Exist I
The Incubus System Chapter 1365. The Right to Exist I
The light from the blade licked at my fingers like heatless flame, but it didn’t comfort me. Not now. Not when I could smell ozone and metal, not when the taste of blood and divine wrath sat thick on my tongue. Not when five holy monsters circled me like vultures in a glowing meat grinder of wings and edges.
And yet… I grinned.
The pressure in my chest didn’t crush me.
It fueled me.
A smirk bloomed on my face. This one darker. The kind of smirk that shouldn’t sit on a mortal face. But I wasn’t just mortal, was I?
If they wanted a villain… I guess I’d give them one.
“Demonic Energy.”
[Demonic Energy has been activated.]
It hit instantly. My muscles thrummed with power, like every cell remembered who I was. What I was.
I cracked my neck, wings flexing out. They weren’t pristine or symmetrical. They were chaos, streaked with silver and black, burning with radiant corruption.
The middle angel raised his hand. The others shifted, formation tightening. The chains of judgment snapped into place, floating mid-air again. Five targets. Five problems. All divine. All armed.
Good.
I lunged.
Not slow. Not cautious. I didn’t test the waters this time. I moved faster and sharper. It was like I was toying with them. Like the crown prince of darkness I was and should be. A blur across the battlefield, Nightmare slashing in a wide arc. I ducked low, dragging the blade up in a vicious uppercut that met steel torso, sparks exploded, and the impact rang out like a chime warped by war.
The left angel’s arm blade came down, but I didn’t dodge. I caught it.
With my claw.
[Demonic Claw has been activated.]
[Telekinesis has been activated.]
The steel shrieked against my demonic fingers, and I grinned right in his face as I tightened my grip and crushed the edge with one sharp squeeze. He reeled, mechanical body staggering. I flung him aside like a broken toy.
The moment the others closed in, I whispered, “Dark Bound.”
Black tendrils burst from the ground, writhing like serpents, slamming around two of them, rooting them mid-air. The air trembled.
[Dark Bound has been activated.]
One tried to break free with a pulse of holy energy. I snapped my fingers.
“Silence.”
[Silence has been activated.]
He twitched but no skill came. No chants. No light. Just panic.
“Don’t like that, huh?” I sneered, eyes glowing. “No incantations? No divine wrath? What a shame.”
The right angel dove for my head, wings folding around his massive blade arm. A pincer strike.
I didn’t move.
“Shadow Barrier.”
[You has formed a barrier.]
The strike hit a dome of pure black energy, and the force threw both of us back. I twisted mid-air, wings angling hard, skidding into a crouch just as I raised my hand.
“Demonic Spike.”
A hundred crimson lances shot from the ground in a perfect spiral around me. The entire dome trembled. Each spike surged upward, impaling one of the angels mid-flight. One of them screamed as five spikes tore through his wing-plates and back, forcing him down in a crash of metal and holy fire.
My boots hit the stone again.
Their blood… if I could call that glowing stuff blood, splashed on my face.
It hissed against my skin, divine energy burning like acid. And yet… I laughed.
Low. Deep. Unhinged.
Like the demon prince they wanted me to be.
“Come on,” I growled. “You wanted to see the monster, didn’t you? So here I am.”
The middle one roared… a sound not meant for mortal ears, and hurled his chain like a whip of light. I rolled under it and flung Nightmare like a spear. It tore through his shoulder and out the back, lodging into the dome wall.
Before he could react, I clenched my fist.
[Nightmare has been recalled.]
The blade ripped back through his body, spraying golden ichor, and returned to my grip with a satisfying slap of hilt to palm.
The fourth and fifth angels dove together, trying to corner me in a flurry of wings and steel limbs. Smart. Coordinated.
But I was done playing defense.
“Wrath Kill.”
[Wrath Kill has been activated.]
My sword disappeared. My claw lit up again, darker this time, burning with a twisting red and black flame. I blurred past one, extending the claw like a whip. It slashed through his side, and a split-second later, a pillar of dark fire exploded from within his body.
The scream was divine. Shattering. My eardrums rang but I didn’t care. His body fell, twitching, burning from the inside out.
I didn’t stop.
I flew… no, rushed, at the last one. He tried to block with his wing. A mistake.
Redemption lashed out.
[Radiant Slash.]
Light met steel. My angelic side wasn’t quiet now. It screamed through my blade, burned with my conviction. The slash carved through the edge of his shield-wing and into the angel’s chest. His body recoiled, light sputtering, and I didn’t give him a chance to recover.
[Smite Bolt.]
A burst of holy energy exploded point-blank into his side. Splash damage scattered the others as well, and for a second, they all backed off.
Panting. Shaking.
They were still up. Not dead.
But now they understood.
They didn’t send a prisoner into this dome.
They summoned a storm.
I dragged the back of my hand across my mouth, smearing the holy blood that still sizzled on my skin. My body ached, scorched in places. The crack in Redemption had grown a little. Nightmare hummed with bloodlust.
But I wasn’t finished.
“Energy Siphon.”
[Energy Siphon has been activated.]
I exhaled slowly as the glowing blood pooled near my boots rose in tiny orbs and got pulled into me. Their divine residue burned going down, but I swallowed it all. My Demonic Power refilled. The ache in my limbs faded into a warm, pulsing rhythm.
Better.
Much better.
The leader straightened. His runes burned hotter. His wings pulsed.
“This is your choice then?” he rasped.
I tilted my head, smiling too widely. “No. This is your consequence.”
And then I exploded forward again, blades spinning in both hands, breath hot, eyes glowing.
Not for vengeance.
Not for destruction.
For me.
Because I’d earned this power.
Because they made me fight for the right to exist.
And I wasn’t backing down now.