The Incubus System Chapter 1542. Judgement

The Incubus System Chapter 1542. Judgement

At first, that was all it was.

Ugly, certainly, but thoughts weren't crimes. If I started murdering everyone who silently judged someone else, I'd depopulate the planet before breakfast. Humans judged demons. Demons judged humans. Angels apparently judged everything that breathed without first obtaining Light Dimension's approval certificate.

Whatever.

They could stare.

They could sneer.

They could write angry little reports about how humanity had become corrupted by demons, alcohol, short skirts, nightclub music, premarital hand-holding, or whatever celestial disaster offended them this century.

I wasn't interested.

My Shadow Ritual remained spread while I lounged in Sea Devil's VIP room, surrounded by warmth, perfume, tangled clothes, flushed skin, and the lingering sweetness of an evening that had thoroughly destroyed my suit and improved my mood.

Then one of those holy signatures changed.

Aggression.

Another followed.

Then another.

My attention sharpened instantly.

Now we were doing something interesting.

The darkness connected to me flowed across rooftops and through alleys, allowing my awareness to follow them without physically leaving the room. I expected criminals. Maybe demons preying on humans. Something that could at least explain the sudden spike of hostility.

If the angels decided to beat the shit out of a murderer caught stabbing someone in an alley?

Fine.

I would turn a blind eye.

Hell, depending on circumstances, I might even give them directions.

I wasn't interested in protecting criminals merely because an angel happened to be the one punching them.

But that wasn't what happened.

The angels chose the weak ones.

Several humans were walking through a quieter district away from the main nightlife streets. Ordinary people. Two young men in cheap work uniforms. A middle-aged man carrying a plastic bag filled with groceries. Another looked drunk enough that walking in a straight line had become an advanced mathematical problem.

The angels descended behind them.

At first, the humans didn't understand what was happening.

Neither did I.

One angel appeared at the mouth of the alley while another blocked the opposite side. Holy power distorted the air around them, subtle enough that ordinary pedestrians outside wouldn't notice. The humans tried to retreat, only to realize they had been deliberately boxed in.

Then the first punch landed.

The grocery bag fell.

Fruit rolled across dirty pavement.

I stopped stroking Elenna's hair.

The second human was shoved against the wall hard enough that his head snapped backward. Another angel grabbed the drunk one and threw him down like a toy.

And then they laughed.

That was the part that made something inside me become perfectly still.

Amusement.

Superiority.

Disgust.

They weren't hunting criminals.

They weren't just searching for demons.

They had found humans who couldn't fight back and decided to entertain themselves.

One man tried protecting his face.

That only amused them more.

A boot struck his ribs.

Another angel hauled the grocery-carrying man upright merely so someone else could hit him again.

My smile disappeared.

This was actually impressive.

I had spent months dealing with demons who hunted humans because humans were food. Horrible, yes. Brutal, absolutely. But at least the motive possessed some primitive biological logic.

A predator killed because it wanted to eat.

It didn't excuse them.

But I understood the mechanism.

This?

These angels didn't need anything from those humans.

They weren't hungry.

They gained nothing.

They simply enjoyed having someone beneath them to judge, all because they considered those humans unclean.

One of the humans collapsed.

The angels continued.

My dark power stirred.

A thin black haze emerged from beneath the alley walls, crawling across the pavement like smoke with a pulse. None of them noticed at first because they were too busy enjoying themselves.

That was almost insulting.

If you're going to invade my playground, at least check whether the monster who owns the shadows is watching.

The darkness reached their feet.

One angel finally sensed it.

Too late.

My Shadow Ritual surged.

Black power shot upward around all three of them, twisting into thick coils that wrapped around wrists, ankles, torsos, and throats.

Their amusement vanished instantly.

Their holy power flared.

Mine swallowed it.

Not completely.

But the ritual already surrounded them.

They had been standing inside my power for several minutes without realizing it.

That was the beautiful thing about traps.

The victim always thought the fight began when the trap closed.

It didn't.

The fight began when they stepped inside.

The shadows tightened around their throats.

One angel clawed desperately at the darkness. Another tried summoning a weapon, golden light forming between his fingers before my power crushed his wrist against the wall.

Their wings manifested.

White feathers exploded outward.

The humans stared from the ground, terrified and confused as the creatures who had been tormenting them suddenly found themselves dragged upward.

My darkness didn't touch the humans.

Not even accidentally.

Every tendril moved around them.

Past them.

Protecting them almost delicately while strangling everything holy in the alley.

That contrast pleased the incubus in me more than it probably should have.

Darkness protecting mortals from light.

Poetic.

Someone should paint it.

The angels struggled harder.

I felt their panic travel backward through my ritual.

Then came outrage.

That fascinated me.

Not remorse.

Outrage.

How dare something interfere?

How dare darkness restrain them?

How dare something they considered inferior decide they weren't allowed to do whatever they wanted?

There it was.

Privilege.

Not the silly social kind people argued about online until everyone developed migraines.

Something ancient.

Species-deep.

The absolute conviction that Heaven stood above everything else and therefore whatever an angel chose to do automatically carried moral authority.

My darkness tightened.

The first angel stopped moving.

The second lasted longer.

Holy light erupted from his body in desperate pulses, burning holes through several strands of shadow before more replaced them. I could feel the resistance even from kilometers away.

Strong enough to bully humans.

Not strong enough for me.

The third tried escaping upward.

My shadow caught one wing.

Then the other.

I dragged him back down.

Hard.

His holy aura flickered.

The alley lights burst.

Darkness swallowed everything.

And then there were no more struggling angels.

Only fading holy particles drifting through black mist.

My power released the humans immediately.

They remained alive.

Bruised.

Terrified.

One was bleeding from his mouth. Another clutched his ribs. The man who had dropped his groceries simply sat against the wall staring at the place where his attackers had vanished.

I couldn't blame him.