The Incubus System Chapter 1543. Impure

The Incubus System Chapter 1543. Impure

The Shadow Ritual receded from them, leaving only enough darkness behind to conceal what had happened.

Three hours passed.

It had been an intense series of rounds.

Of sex?

Well.

Yes.

Technically.

But also hunting.

Mostly hunting.

Okay, fine. The percentage distribution was none of anyone’s business.

The point was that my Shadow Ritual had remained active the entire time, spreading farther through Ledred and the surrounding districts while I stayed comfortably inside Sea Devil’s VIP room. My body had been occupied with considerably more enjoyable activities, while my power prowled through the city like a starving beast with excellent standards.

Kings needed efficiency.

Incubi needed sex.

The interesting part was the EXP.

A translucent notification hovered at the edge of my vision.

[Multiple Hostile Targets Eliminated]

[You have gained EXP!]

[You have gained EXP!]

[You have gained EXP!]

[Holy-Aligned Target Eliminated]

[EXP Bonus Applied]

[You have gained EXP!]

I stared at the ridiculous stack of notifications.

This time, I'd gained a lot.

And surprisingly, most of it hadn't come from demons.

It came from angels.

That realization should probably have concerned me more than it did.

Instead, I took another slow sip of alcohol.

The sharp sweetness rolled over my tongue, followed by the pleasant burn down my throat.

I was sprawled across Pearl's expensive VIP sofa like a victorious tyrant after an extremely inappropriate military campaign.

My shirt? Gone.

My dignity? Never enlisted.

The room itself looked like it had survived a localized natural disaster fueled entirely by alcohol, lust, and extremely questionable decision-making.

Clothes were everywhere.

A heel had somehow ended up on the table.

I didn't know whose.

I wasn't asking.

Several glasses sat abandoned around us, some overturned, others still holding melted ice. The air was heavy with perfume, sweat, alcohol, and the lingering heat of several very enthusiastic hours.

Everyone was exhausted.

Camila was tucked against one side of me, flushed.

Elenna occupied the other side, curled into my embrace like a very satisfied slime cat. Her cheek rested against my chest while one arm lay possessively across my stomach.

Pearl had somehow claimed the opposite sofa with the dignity of a queen after participating in behavior that absolutely did not deserve dignity.

Diamond was beside her.

Olivia and Emma had surrendered to exhaustion somewhere among the cushions.

All of us had long since abandoned any concern for modesty, covered only where conveniently necessary by blankets, discarded clothing, or each other.

And me?

I was wide awake.

Because while my body had spent three hours indulging itself, my mind had spent three hours learning something significantly less enjoyable.

Angels were assholes.

Not all.

Important distinction.

But holy shit, enough of them.

My Shadow Ritual had found more scattered throughout the region.

They practically volunteered for my EXP bar.

One angel harassed a homeless man because he considered the man's body filthy.

Another assaulted a demon-human couple because their relationship was apparently "impure."

Two others cornered a group of lamia who hadn't harmed anyone and started provoking them, almost as if they desperately wanted justification to attack.

Judgment.

Different targets.

Different excuses.

Same pattern.

I swirled my drink.

The ice clicked softly against the glass.

That was when something uncomfortable occurred to me.

Observation itself was apparently unusual among them.

Actual observation.

Watching someone before deciding what they were. Learning. Waiting. Giving someone enough room to demonstrate their intentions.

What Astra and Lysathiel had done.

I had treated their behavior as the bare minimum.

Apparently, by Light Dimension standards, it might have been generosity.

That thought made me stare into my drink for several seconds.

It also explained Puriel.

When I first met her, she'd been judgmental as hell.

At the time, I'd thought she was particularly difficult.

Now?

Apparently Puriel had been moderate.

The realization changed how I viewed Astra too.

She hadn't immediately trusted me.

Fair.

She had observed.

Asked questions.

Watched how I treated humans.

Then slowly changed her opinion based on evidence.

That sounded so painfully normal that I hadn't appreciated how unusual it might actually be among her people.

And Lysathiel?

She had gone even further.

She'd listened and risked political consequences to prevent a conflict.

She had looked at a Nephilim carrying demon royal blood and angelic ancestry and somehow managed the revolutionary intellectual achievement of thinking ‘Maybe I should judge him by what he actually does.’

I took another drink.

Elenna lifted herself slightly, enough to look directly at me.

"When you talked about the situation before…" she murmured, voice rough with exhaustion, "the angels, the Light Dimension, everything…"Her expression became more serious. "I thought it wasn't this bad."

My fingers stopped against her back.

"But now I know it is."

For a few seconds, I said nothing.

But perhaps that was why tonight bothered her…

Demons rarely pretended hunger was holiness.

An angel could look down on someone, hurt them, call them unclean, then somehow still believe the halo made the action righteous.

I looked at my glass.

The remaining ice rolled lazily around the bottom while the alcohol left a pleasant burn on my tongue.

“That’s why I stopped pretending.”

I smirked nonchalantly. No anger. That was the beautiful part.

I genuinely didn’t care anymore.

“Let them judge me. Who cares?”

Elenna lifted her head slightly.

I leaned deeper into the sofa, completely comfortable with myself. “I don’t exist because I want their validation.”

That sentence felt ridiculously good.

I wasn’t born to satisfy Aurelion. I wasn’t responsible for convincing every angel that mixed blood deserved oxygen. I certainly wasn’t spending another century auditioning for Light Dimension’s approval like some desperate little puppy begging for a halo.

F*ck that.

“I’m done with their observation, their tests, all of it. I’ll live exactly like I used to.”

My fingers lazily traced Elenna’s shoulder as my smile sharpened.

They could observe, judge or call me corrupted, impure, monster, Erebus, whatever helped them sleep at night.

I raised my glass toward the ceiling in a mock toast.

I had a life to enjoy.