The Hero Became a Succubus, and the Only Way to Level is to… What?!
Chapter 414 – Apex of Isha (Part 2)

As the group crossed the threshold into the shadow-engulfed Isha Palace, a strange sensation pricked at their skin. It was supposed to be exceedingly hot outside, yet the palace was freezing cold. They were even able to see their own breaths.

Grand walkways made of sandstones were polished to a waxy shine. The walls were etched with beautiful Saviran landscapes, some even depicting verdant forests from an ancient time. Very few rooms and chambers had doors, only a short corridor into each space. Isha Palace's halls weren't long and winding like Aidenhall. They were spacious for the purpose of ventilation, and Kanae and her two companions really felt the cool coursing winds as a result of the architecture. The place must have been quite the sight if not for how dark it was.

Black tendrils writhed above, like they could come alive at any moment to snatch them up. A low fog no higher than their ankles rolled in.

"There." Alicia pointed out a statue sculpted from a large block of sandstone into a family of three. "Do you suppose that is Sultan Cerberus and his parents?"

The statue was fifteen feet tall in the center of a circular hall that split into four separate corridors. It was of three hell hound beastmen, one a man, woman, and a sleeping child. The child was only a toddler, still swaddling age. The woman, who held the baby, looked a decade or so older than the man judging by the details in the complexion. They stood together like a happy family. Only…

Kanae's shoulders slackened. Sultan Cerberus never had a happy family. His parents passed away when he was young. Unlike him, her children had a large unit of extended family to look after each other, even while she was away.

"The cub was a reclusive boy when we found him," Elaine spoke from the shadows. "Surrounded by court advisors, opportunists eager to sink their fangs in him for more power, and weighed down by duties he was never taught to handle. That made Sultan Cerberus easy to manipulate. We didn't even need to charm him. A little bit of affection, just a caress on the cheek and a pat on the head, and he swooned. It also helped that there were those in his inner circle who longed for an age of succubi. Thanks to that eager-to-please serpent Levain, smuggling succubi into Savir was a simple matter. And seizing Avanesse was like snatching candy from a baby."

"Don't let Petyr hear you manipulated a kid. She's going to grind you into paste for treating him like that," Kanae warned.

"Pah. Even Ambrosia admits that high elf cattle have been a tricky thorn in our side. But she won't be a problem now. Neither will that hell hound woman, her resistance, and your allies below. It seems they are too preoccupied." She cackled purposefully just to annoy them.

"Is it just me, or is Isha Palace too empty? I don't like it. The place is big enough for thousands to live in here," Claudia whispered.

No. Claudia was right. Where was everyone? Did Elaine charm and send them all downstairs to fight the resistance?

Footsteps echoed down from the west wing. A figure leaned against the archway frame. He was a dark elf, dressed in the magisterial garment of a bureaucrat. Ten more shambled out, then a hundred. From the east wing, an undead horde poured in. And finally in the north wing, enough palace guards to stretch the width of the corridor marched through.

Surrounded from all sides, Kanae and the sisters had nowhere to go except back from where they came. However, retreating wasn't an option. They either reached Sultan Cerberus, or all of Avanesse would fall to the Cult of Lust and Depravity's control and become a succubus state.

"We'll go up then!" Alicia lifted into the air, and Kanae and Claudia followed after.

One of the ceiling tentacles shot out to grab at them. They struck back, but there were too many to fend off. Claudia deflected a firebol Kanae didn't see coming. The combined forces below fired arrows, chucked javelins, and shot magic, forcing them to evade attacks from every angle.

Something suddenly tickled Kanae's right ear.

"Hello? Hello? Can you hear me?" a squeaky voice asked from a skeletal rat clinging to her hair.

"Edina?! How did you get an undead on me? Actually, this isn't a good time!" Kanae ducked behind the statue as a couple of arrows whistled past.

"It's never a good time!" Edina complained. "But shit just got real at the temple, and I gotta bail. I lost track of Riben and the Necronomicon, and the succubi are mounting a big counterattack. I'm with a group of resistance right now. We're trying to rescue some folks trapped in here, but it ain't looking good!"

The succubi were trying to retake the temple? But they broke the crystal powering the engine and grounded it. The cult should have nothing to gain—

Ambrosia's taunting words replayed in Kanae's head.

Your victory over the temple was small and insignificant. It can be repaired.

"Damn it, Ambrosia!" Kanae groaned.

"What happened?" Claudia sucker punched a charmed harpy in the gut, letting him plummet to the ground.

"They're going to take back the temple while we're in here," she said, glowering.

"Then… should we retreat and go after them?" Alicia asked.

Kanae wasn't sure herself. If they left Isha Palace, everyone downstairs would be doomed to face an even larger force. If not, the cultists would regain the flying temple. Ambrosia had given them an impossible choice.

"Rasheena entrusted us to find and stop Sultan Cerberus. If we don't, the royal army will wipe out the resistance," Kanae explained.

"But where? We don't have time to search the entire palace!" Alicia argued, shoving away an undead that leaped onto her back from the statue.

"We don't need to. That way!" Kanae gestured down the north wing, past the column of palace guards. "A guard's duty is to protect their master. They all came from that direction for a reason."

"Good enough for me. I'll lead the way!" Claudia launched down the hall with explosive power, sending a shockwave that knocked countless palace guards off their feet.

Kanae and Alicia winced as a pang of pain pulsed on their ass. Her sister heaved a sigh. At least Claudia had the decency to fly far first before using Project Agony.

They hurried after Claudia, who left an army of palace guards rolling on the floor and clutching their butts in her wake. A large archway ahead gave way to an indoor playground, furnished with a sandpit, jungle gym, slides, monkey bars, and more.

Several figures stood inside the dark room— Elaine and Riben, and behind them, a terrified Sultan Cerberus. Half a dozen palace guards surrounded him in a defensive formation.

"Are you not going to bow to Sultan Cerberus?" Elaine sneered.

"I'm tired of your babbling!" Alicia took the initiative, diving in to slash her sister.

The blade passed through a blob of darkness, and a pair of death knights emerged from the shadows. Claudia shielded Alicia with her own body, taking a maul to the head and axe to the side.

"Too soft, too weak! I didn't feel a damn thing!" Claudia wrenched the maul from one death knight and started clobbering both of them.

"I should have left you and your friends for the carrions back in Vanuis!" Riben summoned a flock of undead bats with deadly sharp wings. He sent them directly at Kanae, who knocked them down with a Hailstorm.

"You saved us because you're a good person deep down, but this right now isn't what your family would want! Hundreds of families are being torn apart because of all the fighting. If you know how painful it is, then help us put a stop to the civil war!" Kanae received her answer in the form of a blast of necrotic energy. She narrowly dodged the attack, which charred the sandstone wall behind her black.

Riben grabbed his own hand that casted the spell and reeled. He was struggling. Kanae sympathized with him. She could have been where he was now after losing Arenade. If it wasn't for the support of so many friends, children, and family, her path could have gone just as bad. But some people didn't have anyone, and that was the truest tragedy.

"Why are you holding back?" Necronomicon asked his master. "They are just beyond your reach. Imagine your wife's smile. Your child waving to you. Are you going to simply let them go, just because a succubus, whose kind takes things by force on instinct, told you so?"

"Oh, come on. Your living grimoire is clearly taking advantage of you!" Kanae groaned.

"Sacrifice Undead!" Riben howled.

"Crap. I know that spell…" She took a step back and grimaced.

The death knights Claudia was fighting crumbled apart. Their pieces reformed on Riben. Undead stormed down the hall and shattered, too. They amalgamated on the necromancer, forming a hulking undead monstrosity that wielded a large axe in one hand and maul in the other. A horned skull crowned his head and glowed a fiery purple. Ghastly wraiths spewed out from Necromicon that wailed in pain.

"Heeeey, this might actually be fun~" Claudia trembled with delight.

"Ehh… In that case, I'm tagging out. You deal with Riben. I'll help Alicia!" Kanae weaved through the playground, avoiding lashing appendages and wraiths.

Having a paladin or priest up here would be great right about now!

Alicia bore down on Elaine unrelentingly. Backed into a corner, the Mistress of Pain incanted a spell that shrouded half the room in utter darkness. Kanae couldn't see a foot past her. Something glinted from afar. The point of a blade dripping with venom came within an inch of her eye.

"Kanae?!" Alicia gasped.

"I thought I was going to lose an eye… How did you know it was me?" Kanae asked.

"I smell fresh cum. Of course, your womb is full of it right before battle," she replied teasingly.

Elaine's laughter taunted them from all directions.

"You've overcome your fear of the dark? Hahaha! No one ever truly gets over their fears. It stays with you. Grows inside you. Allow me to reacquaint that phobia," Elaine whispered.

Kanae and Alicia swung behind themselves and sliced empty space. Dark tendrils yanked them away from each other. A cut on the thigh, another on the shoulders. The shadows took form, and their attacks were able to make their mark. But the same wasn't true in reverse. No matter how many times Kanae struck back, she only succeeded in hitting nothing.

"Tch. You know what the worst thing about being in the dark for so long, Elaine?" Kanae asked.

"Oh, and what is that?" Elaine humored the question.

"First light is always the brightest." She freed her breasts, flashing the entire room with Piercings of Impurity.

The shadows dissipated. Elaine staggered back, shielding her eyes and cursing. Alicia slashed her across the chest, and the dark miasma around the room and palace vanished. Morning light from Savir's sun bled into the playground chamber. She dropped to her knees, pressing a hand to the wound.

"And magebane has felled another spellcaster." Alicia twirled her dagger and grinned.

"No, stop!" Sultan Cerberus rushed past his guards, throwing himself over Elaine. "You will not hurt my betrothed!"

"Get away from her!" Kanae cried.

Elaine drew a knife from her waist and held Cerberus hostage with it.

"W-What are you doing? I thought you loved me…" Cerberus stammered.

"Silence, cattle. Your mewling has been like steel against coarse stone to my ears. I didn't love you. I never loved you. You have given us all that we needed already. Avanesse has always been too small, but an empire of cattle across the sea will make for a better ranch. Now, be a good pawn for me one last time," Elaine said, slowly inching towards the window and sweating profusely.

"Succubus, I need the sultan alive!" Riben yelled while thrashing Claudia over and over like a ragdoll.

"Hehe… The venom hurts, Alicia~ It feels oh, so good… I've always… the way you… look at me…" The succubus shoved Cerberus away and fell backwards out of the window.

Kanae and Alicia raced over to see Elaine plummeting. They were seconds from climbing out when Ambrosia swooped down to catch her. She glanced back, locking eyes with Kanae one more time before disappearing through a hole in the temple mid-air over the city.

"No! Those scheming… lying succubi!" Riben boomed.

"Don't take your eyes off me yet. I'm about to cum!" Claudia slugged him across the head.

The necromancer was still a problem, but Kanae came up with an idea. She gripped the handle of Cockcalibur and visualized William Bellevue, the paladin adventurer and future Knight of Azure.

Sorry, Will. But I need your dick right now, Kanae thought.

"Kanae? Now, of all times?" Alicia frowned.

"It'll make sense in a sec, I swear!" she insisted, transforming Cockcalibur into Will's dick to fuck herself with. It throbbed all but once before spilling a thick load into her.

[Skill Drain has temporarily acquired Smite.

Smite: At the cost of straining the body, infuse a weapon or object with incredible holy energy for a single attack. Explodes on impact. Undead, demon, and elementals are extra vulnerable.]

"Distract him for me, Alicia!" Kanae instructed.

"Ain't I already doing that?!" Claudia exclaimed as Riben grinded her underneath his foot.

Alicia bolted across the room and slashed the necromancer's back. Her blades harmlessly glanced off the bones and metal plating from sacrificed death knights. Riben threw an arm out to grab her but missed.

Meanwhile, Kanae trembles as she infused the Blade of the First Temptress with Smite. Golden energies danced along the steel, lighting up the runes on the ancient weapon. She flew forth and thrusted the sword into Riben's back. Every seam and joint in his monstrous undead form illuminated with blinding incandescence.

"How did a succubus… use a Paladin's skill?" Riben managed to get those words out before his armored casing exploded. Armor and bones flew everywhere. The man himself fell face first into the sand.

Every fiber in Kanae's body ached all at once, like some force pinched and pulled them taut. It felt nothing like being fucked all night. The soreness left her in agony.

"Ugh… How… How does Petyr use Smite so often…" Kanae grumbled.

"We got ya, hot stuff." Claudia lifted her up by the shoulder, and Alicia from the other side.

Cerberus sat in the sand, hugging his knees. Eyes blank and posture defeated, he stared quietly at the tiny grains beneath him. When they tried to approach the sultan, his palace guards rushed in to defend him.

"We're not after his life. We just want to convince him to stop the royal army. Each of you are loyal to him, I get it. But don't you also have people out there you care about? We can stop this war," Kanae reasoned.

"I have family in The Commons," one guard said. "It is where fighting has been the fiercest. I yield."

As soon as he tossed his spear to the ground, the others did the same and stepped away. They were all exhausted. Kanae could tell by their eyes and gait. She managed to convince them, but…

The biggest challenge remained.

"Everyone is gone… Elaine's gone, my guards are gone, my council is gone… I can't take it anymore!" Sultan Cerberus cried quietly.

"You're not alone. We're here now. Your aunt Rasheena is here, too," Kanae explained and kneeled down next to him.

"N-No! Aunt Rasheena wants to hurt me!" The color drained from his face.

They must have been telling Cerberus all sorts of things about Rasheena. Not that they were wrong. She had other plans for him. This boy had been made a tool of by his own people, Ortesia, the Cult of Lust and Depravity, and possibly by his own family soon. What he needed was a guardian.

Kanae rested a hand on his trembling shoulder. "Rasheena won't hurt you. Even if she plans to, I'm not going to let anything happen to you. A very short-tempered elf I know won't either. The succubi like me, who were here earlier, tricked you this entire time. So I know you have even less reason to trust another succubus. But unlike them, I don't want to take advantage of you." When it looked like he wasn't budging, she recalled the statue earlier and shifted topics. "I saw that statue of you and your parents." Cerberus sniffled and tensed up. "You miss them, don't you? You've been alone for so long, and you just wanted a family. I'm a mother. I have kids. A lot, actually. I've seen what happened when they lost even just one parent. I can't imagine how hard it must have been for you to lose both."

"What… should I do then?" Cerberus lifted his head to ask.

"Protect the city your parents left behind for you. If it's gone, how will you remember them by?" She smiled.

Cerberus stopped crying. He wiped the tears from his eyes and raced to the group of palace guards, specifically to a harpy beastman.

"What do you think you're doing?" Riben pushed himself up by his elbows.

"Taking back control of my parents' city. Guard, fly to the Apex of Isha and sound the horn to cease fighting," Sultan Cerberus ordered and pressed a large bronze key into his hand.

"Yes, my sultan!" The palace guard spread his wings and dove out the nearest window.

When Riben tried to give chase, Claudia pounced on him. Necronomicon summoned a death knight of its own and her off of him. But it was too late. A horn's low, drumming note reverberated through the air. The vibrations of its powerful bass coursed through their bodies.

"What was that?" Alicia asked.

"The Apex of Isha is equipped with war horns to quickly signal to the people of Avanesse, in case we are ever attacked directly. Only I have the key to access it. The guard I sent up signaled the royal army to stand down," Cerberus explained.

"No!" Necronomicon hissed, the pages shriveling up in anger. "The effluvia of death is subsiding. I must have more! Feed me necrotic energies. NOW!"

"Damn you, Sultan Cerberus! All of you succubi and cultists, too. If you won't give me my war, I'll pledge my services to someone who will!" Riben cried.

The skull of a giant undead carrion crashed through the side of the wall. Riben and the Necronomicon entered its open beak. Kanae, Claudia, and Alicia jumped in front of Sultan Cerberus to defend him, but the monster peeled away from the palace. The heavy beat of its wings grew more distant by the second.

They peered out the hole, and the two were flying fast out of Avanesse. The temple was gone, too, no longer grounded in the oasis. Water pooled into the crater it had left behind.

A stampede rushed into the chamber led by Petyr, Renya, and Rasheena at the front. Everyone was winded, injured, and on the verge of collapsing. However, the sultan's aunt still had the strength to draw closer. Out of fear, Cerberus hid behind Kanae and cowered.

"Oh, my nephew. Whatever those Ortesians and cultists told you about me, I assure you they were lies. I've come to rescue you. These are our friends I recruited to do just that. You need not be afraid of me," Rasheena insisted, reaching out a hand to him.

Petyr and Renya walked past them, joining Kanae and the others to face the resistance.

"And what about your contract with Romira?" Kanae stood firm and asked.

"Please, now is not the time. For all that you have done for us, I am grateful. But you are still outsiders. This is an Avanessi affair." Rasheena narrowed her eyes.

"You've seen what I can do. Try it. I dare you," Petyr threatened, and every member of the resistance gulped in unison.

Both sides were at a standstill… until Rasheena motioned for her people to stand down.

"Fine. Romira, consider our contract terminated." Rasheena tossed a knife blade-first into the sand.

"No refunds," Romira said.

Kanae and her side looked up. Romira had been hidden in the rafters, a bolt primed to fire from her crossbow. The assassin removed the projectile and dropped down, raising both hands in the air.

"I didn't even sense you up there…" Alicia cursed under her breath.

"You didn't want to be friends. Could've taught you a thing or two." Romira shrugged playfully.

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