A few moments since the last chapter…

Succubus Homeland, Succubus Graveyard

 

A monument was made out of a solid piece of granite that was taller than a man and rectangular. There were two names on it of the succubi who had died since Rex had come to the island. The first one was one that Bren had told him had some issues she worshipped him as some divine being who came to lead the succubi to greatness. The other died when the ultimate weapon of the succubi was set off. 

 

When a human dies and is gone forever, the ones left behind are left to experience a form of grief from their passing. Humans are sentimental and emotional creatures with an instinct to preserve their lives and the lives of their offspring. Even a beloved pet dying can be a defining moment in a young human’s life.

 

“You have become the first sacrifice to the ultimate weapon of the succubi! Now you may watch on as it tears apart the succubi’s enemies! We can only envy you, Dela. Farewell!” A succubus gave the statue a salute.

 

Several other succubi began giving the stone monument a salute and several took the chance to fire their guns in the air in a discordant rhythm. Rules, regulations, Rex had tried to use this as a way to tell the succubi that they needed these things if they were going to keep their lives. He was then told as a fierce warrior a succubus must discard all things that will get in her ways like fear and hesitation. Only in this way would the succubi be able to keep their competitive edge with their small numbers.

 

“They are all doomed… Even Kira has weird tendencies to be incredibly reckless… Do they have a survival instinct? Not even animals or monsters are like this…” Rex muttered.

 

He had begun to miss Kira as she was already gone much longer than expected, and this had made him think of the succubi and their future. These differences in psyche made him often question just what made humans human. Now he was starting to wonder just what made succubus a succubus. 

 

***

Meanwhile…

Hell, The blood sea

 

Demons did not possess the same survival instinct a human did, they did not value their lives inherently which caused changes to their fight or flight response. In a battle a demon fought until one person died, even using their teeth if necessary. Most demons had features like talons, claws, horns, and even bone blades, one exception to this was the succubus. She had a similar structure to a human but her orifices had been specialized to allow her to drain the life essence of living creatures who made contact with them. 

 

The center of this plane was dominated by a sea that was so large it was impossible to tell its exact size and its blood-red color made it impossible to judge its depths. Thick red fog swirled and moved constantly, sometimes forming the shapes of many demons as it rolled over the red waters. Inside of its bubbling mass, a female form could be seen floating on top of it as she was pushed towards the shore. A look of shock was still etched on her pale face as she recalled her last moments.

 

“Incredible…” She muttered with red fluid oozing out of her mouth as she did so. “It perfectly captures the true fury of the succubi! Unending, unrelenting, yet spontaneous enough to catch anyone by surprise! It tells the entire world that she is not to be messed with!”

 

Every time she recalled the scene she felt like it was speaking to her, whispering in her ear how incredible the weapon was. She was interrupted when she felt a pain in her stomach that she had long forgotten about since she had lived on the island. It was hunger, and it was quite intense. Feeling her back hit a rough stone surface she turned and began crawling onto the ground and emptied the rest of the fluid from her air sacs. 

 

“Where am I?” She muttered as she felt hot air hitting her when she left the water.

 

While this didn’t seem to affect her negatively, it was hard to get used to after living in such a nice environment. Her fair skin had also taken on a slight red hue after being washed through the waters of the blood sea. She could see some vegetation but it was much different than she had seen on the island and suddenly she realized she didn’t have her clothes or weapons with her. Fear began to settle in her now that she was in an unknown environment with no weapons and she quickly sought to rectify this. 

 

Using tall thorn-like branches that grew in dark black she fought with it to remove it from around a green plant that was as tall as she was. She then collected some of the vines that grew on the ground and found they had good durability, then pounding a rock against another on the ground she began breaking a blade to make a spear. The blade had two curved edges that rounded towards the rear, just like her tail, and after fastening the blade on the end of the thorn she felt a little safer. But this small comfort caused Dela to reminisce about all the things she had on the island, her concrete home equipped with a cannon, her guns, and all of her clothes.

 

Wrapping some of the vines around her chest with some long thin grasses she was able to fashion herself a small skirt and a wrap for her breasts. While she could transform to eliminate any issues that being naked would cause her, a lot of the succubi had started to see it as taboo. A succubus should be proud of her appearance and use it to her advantage, not look for features that a succubus wasn’t born with. This was the start of how a succubus must build up her self-esteem and establish her identity!

 

Feeling a sharp pain from her stomach caused these stray thoughts to disappear as she briefly doubled over in pain and had to wait for the cramping to subside. It only took her a few moments but the thought of hunting some prey with just a spear was causing her some hesitation. She never realized how much she had come to rely on the firearms that Rex made until she no longer had one. Hearing some of the brush shakes around her caused her to go on high alert and take in her surroundings. 

 

The sky seemed to be overcast with dark gray clouds that emitted lightning on the occasion that blasted down on the various high mountains that existed in the distance jutting out of the rust-colored ground. The air had an acidic quality to it that smelled of rotten eggs and something that smelled bitter. From out of the brush she could see what looked like a canine creature with dark brown fur and large gaping jaws. Its face was similar to a Pitbulls but its muzzle was slightly more extended.

 

“Stay back! I am warning you!” Dela called as she began thrusting the spear forward towards the large dog creature.

 

The large dog monster looked confused and hurt to not be trusted by the succubus and it laid on its belly and began whimpering towards her. Dela wasn’t sure what was going on, the dog monster was the size of a horse but it seemed to be trying to be friendly towards her. This behavior caused her some confusion as she stopped thrusting her spear towards it and looked at the dog monster in confusion. The first thing she noticed was a metal collar with spikes wrapped around its neck proudly like a pet.

 

“Who are you?” A voice asked, causing Dela to turn around towards its source.

 

Turning around she saw something that almost brought tears to her eyes, it was another succubus. She was wearing pants that were made of small sections of cloth sewn together in different colors to produce crude camouflage that was red and brown to blend into the surroundings. On her back were a lever-action rifle that had a metal magazine sticking out of the bottom and red polished wood accessories. She wore a top that covered her entire front and had pockets for spare magazines, she also wore a short cloak that covered her head and a wrap around her mouth.

 

Her tail, horns, and face that were exposed had also been coated in paints to change its color and profile. The main difference she noticed was that the succubus’ skin had a tanned quality that had a dark red hue to it. After the rustling of more grass, even more, succubi began to approach equipped with similar weapons, some had long-range rifles chambered in a large caliber and some had short weapons that resembled submachine and a couple of shotguns. The entire team was 20 succubi strong and they had several of the large dog creatures following the formation.

 

“Leader Lirael, look at how fair she is? Where do you think she came from?” A succubus asked the one who had spoken to her first.

 

“Calm down, she is acting as she has never seen hell before.” Lirael admonished. “See? She is shaking.” 

 

“You are right, I should have known better,” Pulling a messenger bag from her side, she opened a flap to reveal a clean cloak and clothes, as well as a revolver. She tossed the bag at Dela’s feet and pulled down her scarf to smile at Dela warmly.

 

She was about to reach for the bag when she suddenly felt her stomach cramp up painfully and she doubled over again miserably. The rest of the succubi took notice of this and one of the large dog creatures walked over and began nudging her face with its large nose. It looked sad for her and began to lick her face with its large tongue.

 

“We originally bred them as an emergency food source, but over time they developed a resistance to our kiss. You can feed on him without worries that you will cause him any lasting harm. See, he wants to help you?” Lirael said as she patted the large brown dog creature's head.

 

Seeing the large furry dog creature continuing to wave its tiny stubby tail caused her to chuckle a bit and she took its invitation to kiss its snout. She could feel her body beginning to pull the essence out of the creature the moment her lips made contact and a warm feeling began to fill her stomach. After a few moments, the essence flow seemed to subside but she no longer felt as hungry and pulled her face away from the large dog. It seemed happy and was lolling its large tongue at her, releasing a strong sulfur smell from its maw.

 

Dela couldn’t help herself and began petting the large creature, its fur was so much softer than she was expecting. Now surrounded by other succubi she didn’t feel as nervous or as hesitant. 

 

“I am Dela, I come from Succubar.” She told them as she looked around. 

 

The succubi had never named their home, it was just their home. Each race on the mainland had a different name for the continent, so they just called it the mainland which was what the prisoners called it. She didn’t expect to know about it and she didn’t expect all of the succubi around her to turn their eyes to her in shock. Lirael was the easiest to see since she had revealed her face, she was shaking as she reached into her breast pocket and pulled out a folded piece of leather, and carefully unfolded it.

 

The piece of leather was being used as a medium to write, and a crude drawing depicting a human emerged. He had blonde hair that was messy and green eyes that were made bright in the picture. He had a confident smile on his face and while crude Dela immediately recognized the subject of the picture.

 

“That’s Rex! Do you know where the island is?! Can I go home?” She was suddenly excited to see something so familiar to her. 

 

Lirael seemed even happier than Dela did as she reached into a pocket at her waist and pulled out a pistol with a short stubby barrel that was breech-loaded. It made a small popping noise as she aimed it into the air and a cartridge was fired into the air that burst into bright blue light when it went into the air. Lirael’s demeanor seemed to transform at this moment and her tail made a cracking noise as it whipped through the air to get her sister’s attention. Placing her gun at her shoulder so that it was in a ready position, she began issuing rapid orders.

 

“On your guard sisters! We must protect the prophet until the main force arrives!” Lirael ordered which snapped the rest of the succubi out of their reverie.

 

Suddenly the succubi moved to surround and flank Dela closely as they took various positions with their guns at the ready. Even Kira’s personal guards didn’t move as quickly or efficiently, and the aura that the succubi were giving off was like a blade that was drawn and at the ready. The large hounds sensing their master’s tension began circling the formation without being ordered and sniffing the air and issuing light growls. The brush shook as even more of the hounds started appearing and joining the other ones that were circling the group. 

 

“Prophet… me?” Dela muttered, but none of the other succubi seemed to hear her. 

 

“Don’t worry, you will understand soon,” Lirael told her from her side. “We have long prepared to welcome you. We were stationed here specifically to look for any prophets from Succubar. The advanced force should arrive within a minute.”

 

Dela was becoming confused the more she looked at the succubi around her. The way they moved, the way they carried themselves, and their bearing were something that Dela had never seen in her sisters on the island. They moved with a single unified purpose, to protect her! Thinking about how she died to the ultimate weapon of the succubi and the experience she had with it, a thought began to spring up in her mind.

 

Did the ultimate weapon of the succubi send me here for a purpose? She wondered for a few moments but these thoughts soon came to an end when she felt the ground shaking. 

 

From off in the distance a large cloud of dust was rising over the horizon, and in the air, she could see hundreds of V-shaped formations composed of the same number of 20 succubi. The vehicles on the ground looked like chariot at first that was being pulled by teams of armored hounds wearing a harness similar to what was used in Alaska to pull sleds. However, the chariots were either mobile artillery or wagons carrying brass shelled ammunition. There were even several crank action Gatling guns, but at the center of the formation being pulled by larger hounds was a carriage with large wheels that were made of metal.

 

“One of the pontiffs has arrived, they will be able to explain everything to you,” Lirael told her confidently as she pointed to the metal carriage.

 

“Pontiff?” This was a rank that the succubi did not have anywhere on the island or in their history, she was quite confused by it and Lirael could tell.

 

“They are the keepers of the succubi faith, they also help distill the word of the father of all succubi for his daughters. You will be spending most of your time with them while you acclimate yourself to this lowly place.” Lirael answered respectfully.

 

While Dela was trying to sort out her confusion she looked up in the sky and began trying to count all of the succubi formations she saw flying around her. She realized quickly that there had to be several hundred of them and began doing the math in her head. Realizing quickly that there were more succubi in the air around her than the entirety of succubar caused her to fall into a sudden stupor.

 

“The advanced force is 10,000 sisters strong, and the main force has over 200,000 members making up its ranks, we will ensure we get you to Rexia safely,” Lirael said before guiding Dela over to the metal carriage that came to a stop before her. 

 

The door of it was opened and another succubus came out of it wearing brown robes that left her face exposed, she had cut her black hair short and seemed humble in appearance. But the excitement on her face was hard to contain and she had to fight to keep her tears from showing.

 

“Great Prophet, right this way. I will help you get properly dressed and explain to you what has happened.” The robed succubus told her. “I am Pontiff Gretchen, but you can call me whatever is easiest for you.” 

 

What is going on? Dela was in shock as she was led into the metal carriage and sat down on a padded bench. 

 

***

Meanwhile…

Succubus Homeland, Succubus graveyard

 

Rex had decided to stay at the monument after everyone had left, he had Bob build it in a quiet corner of the mountaintop. Right now he was alone with the guards as he was deep in his thoughts. What he feared most was that the succubi would end up wiped out due to their reckless behavior due to the weapons he gave them. He had been thinking of the hundreds of years of military doctrine humans had used and trying to think if there was any way he could create something similar. 

 

“Hey, Bren, what do you think the succubi will remember me as? The person who helped them rise and build a better life for themselves or the one who gave them the weapons that ultimately destroyed them?” Rex asked his guard.

 

“That is a strange question to ask me, but I would say the former.” She said after a moment.

 

“What if the succubi ultimately destroy themselves, I would be to blame,” Rex muttered.

 

Was this how Oppenheimer felt when he created the nuke? Rex felt like he was getting close to that precipice himself. Metals stored the largest amounts of mana, and he was sure that if he could fulminate magical metals then he would have something incredibly dangerous. That was because normal metals could only hold a fraction of the mana that their magical counterparts could.

 

“Why would you be to blame?” She asked with confusion.

 

“Because I gave them the tools to do it. I should have focused on coming up with some form of doctrine and discipline.” He said. 

 

While he was supposed to be overseeing their training from now on, with them engaged in a battle he had no way to do that currently. The entire command structure was a mess and most of them had little to no experience in battle. The succubi had never been leaders and were treated as bait by the demons who made use of their charm to break holes in the enemy's lines. All he could think of was boot camp style-training, but he had no idea how to do that.

 

Should I just start making them run laps?! What do I do? He racked his brain.

 

***

Meanwhile…

Hell, Rexia

 

“Patience, understanding, and tolerance. All traits possessed by the noble succubus and they must be honed if you want to bring out the best in yourself!” A succubus wearing a white robe that had gold thread along the sides, she was holding a large staff that had a figure of Rex carved on its head. 

 

Below here were close to 1000 succubi children who were all taking notes. They had various hairstyles with some of them tying their hair into ponytails, pigtails, and various other hairstyles. The building they were in was a large temple that was constructed of limestone that was patched together with concrete. It had large stained windows and massive bells that chimed at the start of the succubi’s lesson. Along the walls were several large stained windows depicting various scenes that were important to the succubi.

 

The priest looked around and saw that all of the small children were paying attention and she used her tail to point at the first stained window. “The succubi were considered a weak race with few ways to defend themselves if their charm was unable to affect their enemies. They would be treated like toys by some, and we had to accept all kinds of terrible conditions to survive. Many just accepted this though and did their best to survive. That all changed 553 years ago…”

 

Her tail moved from a window that depicted a succubus on her knees wearing rags and covered in bruises, the artist spent a lot of time making the face detailed to show her misery. It then changed to a new scene that showed a succubus wearing a thick brown robe with a large pack over her shoulders that prevented her from flying. Many guns were sticking out of the pack that could be seen by their barrels. She carried a wooden staff and a large tome under her arm, but her face was covered by a hood.

 

Before the priest could speak one of the excited children sitting on the ground behind her small table spoke up excitedly. “Then the great prophet appeared and spread the knowledge of guns!”

 

“No, the guns were just a gift, she gave us something much greater than that.” The priest told them all seriously. “She came from a plane we had invaded centuries ago, so long we had forgotten it until we uncovered ancient records of it. She told us of a special being who appeared when the succubi of that plane were facing an existential crisis.”

 

“Is it the father of all succubi?” a young succubus asked in the back.

 

“That’s right. The succubi were not born with the great weapons that many other demon clans rely on, the demon god made a mistake when he was creating us and the father of all succubi came to fix it.” The priest told them seriously. “The great prophet spread his teachings and gave the succubi the weapons they needed to defend themselves. Then 500 years ago we established the city of Rexia named after our father.”

 

Her tail was pointed proudly at an image of a large mountain and depicted a battle between the succubi and various other demons. Guns were firing into the air that was depicted by small glass beads that were orange and yellow. It then showed the completed city that had a large carving of Rex’s face in the mountainside but it was far more heroic than the actual individual. A temple was built on top of the mountaintop and many tall houses were built along the mountainside and cannons were everywhere.

 

“We began domesticating other demon races that had suffered for a long time, like the noble hellhounds and the horned sheep that live in harmony with us.” The priest started. “We owe all of this to the father of all succubi and his teachings! That is why the dream of the succubi is to return to his side and create the ideal succubus paradise on succubar!”

 

Dela felt her jaw drop at this point in the priest's speech, that was because of the volume of the applause created by all of the small succubi’s hands that were in attendance. Not even a gymnasium full of elementary schoolers who had just been told they can go home early. There were more children in attendance than all of the succubi on succubar combined. Dela was quite shocked and confused at how this was possible.

 

“Since the first prophet brought us the secret of firearms we have quickly begun to assert our dominance over hell just as the father of all succubi commands. It is becoming well known that there is no fiercer warrior in hell than the succubus.” The pontiff supplied to her respectfully. 

 

She was being led to the back of the temple where it connected into the mountaintop, near the rear was a giant statue of Rex that was looking down over the assembly with a gentle smile on its face. It was being carefully cleaned by a group of succubi wearing formal robes that made them look like members of the clergy. The inside of the temple was enormous, large enough to play a soccer game in with pillars that were round and carved with images of famous succubi warriors who could be seen in their battle gear holding various firearms. The doors on the back were large steel constructions that were guarded by a pair of succubi wearing the same camo that was used outside.

 

“Where are we going?” Dela asked.

 

The pontiff looked back at Dela before giving her a chuckle. “We are going to the hot springs where we will thoroughly relax, as you tell me all about the father of all succubi. We must carefully take down his teachings for our fellow sisters and the future generations.” 

 

“Yes, I am sure this is why the ultimate weapon of the succubi claimed me!” Dela said with a strange light starting to form in her eyes. “I can’t believe I treated our Father so poorly while I was on Succubar! What if he abandons the succubi because of me?!” 

 

“The father of all succubi has a heart that is filled with infinite love for the succubi, he has come when we needed him most.” The pontiff said as she reached forward and patted Dela’s shoulder. “As long as the Great Empress stays by his side he is certain to continue watching over the succubi!” 

 

“Yes, she is named Kira.” The pontiff said seriously.

 

“Wait? Leader Kira?” Dela confirmed.

 

“Indeed, since she has brought the father of all succubi to us she was already unanimously elected the leader, the current leader is the High Pontiff but she is just standing in.” The pontiff explained proudly. “Every five years we have elections for all of our seats, Empress Kira has won for the last 480 years. We follow the teachings of the father of all succubi very carefully and we make sure that every sister’s voice is heard.”

 

“How many sisters live here?” Dela couldn’t help but ask.

 

“According to the voting records it was over one million three hundred thousand. We have nearly doubled in size since the first prophet appeared but that has slowed down since we are not at war with any demon clans currently.” The pontiff told her seriously.

 

“And what do you want me to do here?” Dela asked.

 

“You are a great prophet from succubar, any of the teachings of the father of all succubi that you can tell us will go greatly towards helping the succubi continue to grow. Many sisters will come to you to hear these stories as well, but this can wait till we announce you're coming tomorrow.” The pontiff said.

 

“Alright, I will make sure I give the father of all succubi the proper respect he deserves this time!” Dela announced firmly. 

 

Everything was starting to make sense, his strange appearance, him being the only one of his race, and how he always helped the succubi. How could I not have seen it sooner! She thought. Then she realized that Kira might have been the only one who realized it…