January 22, 2026

The Incubus System Chapter 1369. Happily Ever After

I didn’t talk much after that.

Didn’t joke.

Didn’t even glance sideways at Larry’s dumb smug grin like I usually would.

I just… sat there. Pen in hand, notebook open. Head tilted like I was paying attention, scribbling half-decent notes, nodding at the right times, tapping my foot to some imaginary rhythm.

But my brain?

It wasn’t in that room.

It was still somewhere between those floating wings, those cracked halos, those screams that didn’t sound human. Still in the dome where light burned like blades and my heart beat like it was trying to outrun a truth I didn’t want to admit.

And yeah. I was still in college. Still in my desk. Still trying.

Trying to salvage the rest of my so-called "normal life" like it hadn’t just started slipping through my fingers.

But maybe…

Maybe I needed to stop trying.

Because the longer I sat there, staring at those equations about supply and demand, clauses, and corporate loopholes in trade contracts… the more I felt like none of it mattered.

Not when I knew what was coming.

Maybe I really would have to drop all this.

Not just college.

All of it.

Ethan Strongheart.

The human name. The student record. The smiling face in a class photo. The basic guy who looked like a nerd but not nerdy enough.

Maybe I needed to drop that identity for good.

Because I wasn’t just Ethan anymore, was I?

I was Damian Lucio Malignus.

Crown Prince of the Dark Realm. Son of the Infernal King.

And now?

Target of divine judgment.

Yeah.

Kinda hard to walk that back with a study session.

And what really killed me?

This wasn’t like the demon realm. Not even close.

In Hell, at least, I had allies. Girls. Companions. My name carried weight. I’d built something there. Even when shit got twisted, there were people who chose me.

There?

The Light Dimension?

I didn’t even have one person.

Okay, Puriel.

Yeah. Technically.

But even she had been discarded by her own people. Left behind.

So if they abandoned her, what hope did I have?

Sure, the Queen of Light looked sane. She even had that “stern but fair headmistress” aura. Someone you could theoretically hold a diplomatic brunch with.

But still.

I met her once. I had horns.

Her daughter, if she had one, maybe liked me.

Maybe didn’t.

Maybe I could seduce her and make her like me. Something subtle. A political arrangement with a side of stolen kisses and late-night negotiations. I mean… imagine that. Me, the prince of darkness, though technically a Nephilim, but whatever, and the princess of light.

Opposites attract, right?

A forbidden romance.

A union between realms.

She’s all sunshine and holy hymns, I’m chaos and caffeine. We shake the world, throw the angels and demons into therapy, make them draw up peace treaties and rewrite old prophecies just to keep up with us. Then we go off into the sunset, light and dark balanced. United. Happily ever after.

But…

She could also be baiting me into a cleansing ritual.

With tea and cookies.

Smile sweetly, then Boom! Holy fire baptism. Wings bleached. Aura scrubbed. Horns gone. Identity sanitized.

This whole thing was so f*cked.

So yeah.

Starting today?

Maybe this was it.

Maybe this was the last day I’d walk onto a campus and pretend to be a person who belonged there. Maybe the next time I showed up, it’d be with an army of demons, waging war with the angels. Or maybe not at all.

It was time to prepare.

Time to start saying goodbye…

When I came home, I didn’t bother with the train or bus or any of that mortal crap.

I opened a portal in the alley behind the campus and stepped through. One breath later, I was in the middle of my living room, dropping onto the wooden floor like gravity had just remembered I existed.

The house was quiet.

Celia was still off at her new culinary academy. Foxy was with her, as her personal bodyguard, and possibly bad-influence enabler. So it was just me.

Me, the pets.

And Puriel.

I dropped my bag near the door and flopped face first onto the couch. Didn’t even aim. Just whump. Like a tired sack of existential dread and half-dried blood under the nails.

A second passed. Then two.

And then…

“Woof!”

Red’s excited bark bounced off the walls like a damn firework. I felt a wet nose smush against my arm, then paws on my back, then more weight as the furred ball of chaos bounced around me like I hadn’t just had a breakdown.

Right behind him came Buni, his ears flopping, eyes wide and sparkling with glee. He tried to hop up onto the couch, missed, and body-flopped against the cushion like a squeaky toy.

Shadow, of course, appeared more gracefully. He slinked across the backrest like the snob he was, tail flicking, eyes narrowed. Still… he did purr when he nudged his head against mine.

Rave circled once overhead before settling on the armrest, tilting his head like he was judging me. Which, to be fair, he probably was.

It tickled.

Their affection. Their noises. Their warmth.

I laughed. Just a little.

Not fake. Not loud. Just… a small real sound. The kind that escaped before the weight could crush it.

Even Shadow purred louder at that.

“You look sad, Your Highness,” Red said, his voice soft and a little worried as he placed his head on my thigh.

I ran my hand through his fur. “Yeah… something happened.”

A sudden glow lit the far corner of the room.

Puriel stepped into the space with that quiet grace only someone once divine could pull off without effort. She looked at me from across the room, her white-and-gold robes trailing behind her like light was trying to cling to her.

Her face was calm. Too calm.

“What happened?” she asked.

I looked up at her, still half-draped in pets.

Then I exhaled.

Huffed, really.

Because I didn’t even know where to start.