"I can’t believe this..." Saphyra grumbled as she stomped her way up the castle. "I can’t believe this shit!"
Her long brown twin pigtails aggressively bounced behind her as she ascended the castle stairs.
"Why do I gotta be the messenger? If something goes wrong, Nyl will have my head now. Oh, you should have stopped them. Oh, you shouldn’t have let them go. I can’t believe this!"
The Succubus grumbled and cursed under her breath as she continued climbing towards the uppermost floor, Nyl’s floor.
"Even worse than that..." Saphyra gritted her teeth. "That brat seemed to have gotten taller! I couldn’t tell because Zarath was carrying him but..."
Her hands twitched with irritation.
"There’s no freaking way that baby has already gotten taller than me! No way!"
***
Asmodeus watched as the castle shrank behind them the further they got before turning his attention towards the endless scarlet landscape stretching beneath them.
"Can you tell me where it was?" Zarath asked, her arm wrapped firmly around his waist as they flew. "The Styx River?"
Asmodeus did not have the means to describe its location.
"That way." He pointed instead.
"How can you tell?" Zarath raised an eyebrow. "Didn’t you get there and back using Syndra’s magic?"
"We did." He nodded.
"So, how can you tell?"
"I can feel the Mark left by Syndra there," Asmodeus explained. "I can tell that it’s in this direction."
"Oho, that’s interesting." Zarath seemed genuinely impressed. "Can you feel her other Marks or just that one?"
"Only those I came across." He answered. ’I guess I shouldn’t tell about Syndra’s hidden base.’
"Alright."
Zarath adjusted their path.
"Why are we circling around?" Asmodeus asked a minute later.
"We can’t go there in a straight line."
"Why not?"
"We would run into Generals of the Incubus King," Zarath answered. "Or into the Incubus King himself."
"How strong is he, really?" He asked. "The Incubus King."
"Too strong for me to bother with."
"Hm. Are you scared of him?"
"No," Zarath shook her head. "Since he isn’t here."
"But if he were here?"
"I would fear for my life, then." She nodded. "No use being scared of something that isn’t present, though."
"Right." Asmodeus completely agreed with that perspective. "Do you think Nyl is scared of him?"
"Did you not ask her? Where is Nyl anyway?"
"She was still sleeping when I left."
"You two sleeping together?"
"Yes," he answered bluntly.
Zarath pursed her lips, debating whether to make a joke or not. "I see."
"So he’s that way..." Asmodeus stared into the distance. "In that direction, the Incubus King."
"Interested? In the Incubus King?"
"Yes," he nodded. "Though I can’t tell why exactly. Can you feel his presence from here? I can’t."
"No. If I could sense him, it’s likely that he could sense me as well."
"Is that how it works?"
"Not necessarily, but I assume that he is more capable than I am."
"For no reason?" Asmodeus asked. "Have you run into him?"
"I have not. Nyl has. And there is a good reason for my estimation of his strength."
"Which is?"
"That he is Incubus King."
"..."
***
"There it is," Zarath whispered, and the two started their descent. "How was it?" She asked once their feet reached the ground. "Your first time flying?"
Asmodeus looked around. "It’s a lot slower than Syndra’s magic."
"Well... Yeah..."
Asmodeus’s eyes widened as he heard that familiar rumbling of thick, tarry liquid.
He immediately turned towards the Styx River.
"Dangerous, deep, powerful, and incredibly beautiful, huh?" Zarath repeated his earlier words. "Why did you describe it as deep?"
"I’m not sure," Asmodeus muttered as he stepped towards the aggressive black flow. "How far into the ground does it reach?"
"I can’t tell you that." Zarath crouched and picked up a fallen, reddish branch. "It’s pretty dangerous..." She lowered the branch into the river. "See?"
The entire portion that had been submerged had disappeared. Melted. Consumed. Devoured.
"No one has leapt into a Styx River and survived, so we can’t tell how deep or shallow they are," Zarath explained.
"No one has?" Asmodeus asked, staring deep into the Styx River’s tarry darkness.
"I would assume." Zarath shrugged.
Asmodeus opened his mouth. "I think I want to..."
His words trailed off, and a hoarse voice echoed from behind them.
"Well, well... Looks like we were right."
"Of course, the Succubi would come back. They left a Mark after all."
Asmodeus turned around to find three Incubi standing two dozen meters away.
"Investigating the deaths of our Soldiers was worthwhile, huh?"
Asmodeus raised an eyebrow and turned towards Zarath. "Did they just appear from thin air?"
"They did." She nodded. "It’s probably that third one’s magic. He can likely turn himself and others invisible."
"I see."
Asmodeus could tell that the three Incubi standing in front of him were somehow different from the ones he had encountered with Syndra.
The first was enormous, both vertically and horizontally.
He was over four meters tall, and seemed even wider than he was tall.
His shoulders and hips were tremendously broad, and so was his waist. Layers of fat covered his entire body, and his enormous stomach protruded over a foot ahead of the rest of him.
The second was almost his complete opposite. Half the height, but lanky and incredibly thin, with shoulders narrower than his waist and long arms that almost hung to his knees.
The third...
"Can you sense him?" Zarath asked.
"No, not for now." Asmodeus answered. "He turned invisible before I could look at him too."
"I can sense him, so you don’t have to worry about him." Zarath cracked her knuckles. "What do you want to do, Asmodeus? Run or fight?"
Asmodeus blinked and gazed at the two visible Incubi.
"Fight, I guess," he answered while scratching his cheek. "They don’t seem particularly strong though."
"That’s fun in its own right," Zarath chuckled. "Fighting weaklings. The invisible one is hanging back. I guess he’s the weakest of the three."
"Hm... I guess," Asmodeus licked his lips. "I am curious about their magic."
"That’s the spirit. They’re Commanders of the Incubus King too." Zarath smiled. "Should be fun."
The enormous Commander stepped forward. "Two Succubi coming back to the location where you killed Soldiers of the Incubus King," he said, smiling maliciously. "Are you stupid or something?"
"Hm?" Zarath raised an eyebrow and turned to look behind her. "Two Succubi, where?"
Asmodeus scratched his head.
"Oh, you mean our little brother, huh?" Zarath let out a chuckle. "He isn’t a Succubus. Well, not a normal one, I guess."
"What nonsense are you spouting, stupid whore?" The lanky Commander cursed.
"It’s not nonsense!" Zarath reached, much to Asmodeus’s surprise. "Look! See?"
The three Incubi could only stare in disbelief as Zarath raised Asmodeus’s skirt.
"Oh," Zarath’s eyebrows rose. "Much bigger than I thought it would be."
"Whatever." Asmodeus sighed and swatted her hand away. "Can we get this over with?"
"Yes, yes. But more importantly, let’s focus on..." Zarath’s words trailed off as the lanky Incubus Commander closed the distance in a moment and threw a punch aimed at her chin. "Having some fun!" Zarath continued after dodging backward and kicking the Commander in the side, sending him a dozen meters away. "Let’s move away from the River," she told Asmodeus. "They’ll try to throw us in otherwise."
"I’m not too worried about that," Asmodeus muttered as he stepped to the enormous, greasy mountain of a Commander. "I guess I’ll fight you, then."
"Hehehe..." The Commander chuckled and spread his arms wide. "You’re dead, kid!"