Chapter 912: Two Succubi
Strax kept the small white flames swirling slowly between his fingers as he observed the destroyed arena floor. The Black Ice still lingered around his feet like frozen smoke, slowly sliding across the cracked metal surface. The magical pressure left by Lithara’s aura still lingered in the air, though much more controlled now.
For a few seconds, silence completely dominated the hall.
Then Strax spoke again.
"And Apocalypse?"
Lithara slightly raised her golden eyes to him.
That clearly wasn’t the question she expected to hear first.
Even so, she calmly replied:
"She’s alive."
"I figured as much."
Lithara let out a small, low laugh before slowly walking to one of the partially destroyed columns of the arena. The dark heels of her boots echoed softly through the enormous hall as she ran her fingers along a deep crack in the black stone of the structure.
"I took her to one of the entrances to the Underworld."
Strax finally glanced at her.
"You did what?"
"It was her idea."
The answer came too quickly.
That made him sigh immediately.
Of course it was.
Apocalypse had always been problematic.
From the beginning.
Lithara leaned partially against the column as she continued speaking in a controlled tone:
"She wanted to cultivate more strength."
Strax closed his eyes for a moment as he slowly ran a hand over his face.
"That damn mare..."
Lithara slowly crossed her arms below her chest as she watched his reaction.
"Honestly, I still can’t fully understand how that works."
"Neither can I."
"A creature of that intelligence shouldn’t naturally exist among common beasts."
Strax let out a small, tired laugh at that.
Because again she was right.
Apocalypse was definitely not normal.
Not even close. Lithara continued watching him as he proceeded:
"She understands energy circulation."
"Yes."
"She understands cultivation."
"Unfortunately."
"She knows how to manipulate mana better than many human mages."
"Yes, also."
Lithara narrowed her golden eyes slightly.
"How on earth does a mare get to that point?"
Strax remained silent for a few seconds before answering.
"When I met Apocalypse... she was already strange."
The small white flames began to slowly diminish around his hands as he reviewed memories too old to seem recent now.
"She belonged to a very powerful cultivator," he continued calmly. "Probably some monstrous old man obsessed with spiritual techniques."
Lithara listened silently.
"He probably trained that creature as a disciple or something."
This even made her partially raise an eyebrow.
"Disciple."
"Yes."
"That’s ridiculous."
"I agree."
The hall fell silent again for a few moments as the distant sound of Asgard’s industrial machines faintly penetrated the reinforced structures of the building.
Strax then continued:
"When I found Apocalypse... she had been abandoned."
Lithara remained watching him carefully.
"Why?"
"Who knows? I only know she was abandoned."
That made her smile discreetly.
"Then she pulled you."
"Unfortunately, yes."
Lithara let out another small, low laugh before uncrossing her arms.
Strax, however, remained looking at the destroyed arena floor as he spoke in a lower tone:
"Honestly... I think I neglected her."
Lithara seemed genuinely surprised to hear that.
"You?"
He nodded slowly. "Apocalypse has always been useful." His eyes remained fixed on the marks of destruction scattered across the hall. "But... I hardly used it for a long time."
For months on end, Strax had practically lived in a continuous state of combat or indirectly managing absurd crises.
In the midst of all that, Apocalypse ended up being sidelined.
Not abandoned.
Never that.
But ignored.
And proud creatures noticed that sort of thing quickly.
Lithara tilted her head slightly as she observed him.
"You blame yourself."
"A little."
She remained silent for a few seconds before replying:
"That’s unexpectedly human."
"Don’t spread it around."
"I’ll consider it."
A small, tired smile appeared on his face before disappearing again.
Then Strax slowly focused mana back into his hands. Black Ice reappeared near his fingers while White Fire flickered dangerously just above his palms.
"Despite that..." he continued calmly, "Apocalypse has always been an interesting being."
Lithara nodded slowly.
"Definitely."
She then partially looked away as if to reorganize her own thoughts before continuing:
"She didn’t just want more strength."
Strax partially raised his eyes to her.
"What do you mean?"
Lithara took a few seconds to answer.
Because she clearly considered it strange even by her own standards.
"I think she wants a human form."
The silence inside the arena was immediate.
The small white flames flickered dangerously between Strax’s fingers before disappearing completely.
"She wants what?"
Lithara gave a small, amused smile for the first time since they got onto that subject.
"That was exactly my reaction."
Strax remained looking at her for a few seconds as if trying to decide if this was an absurd joke or a real problem.
Unfortunately, knowing Apocalypse...
It was probably real.
Lithara continued speaking calmly:
"She asked about spiritual transformation several times during the trip."
"Of course she did."
"She also showed specific interest in demonic materialization techniques."
Strax sighed slowly.
"This is getting dangerously strange."
"I agree."
Lithara then began to slowly walk again through the center of the arena, her long red hair gently waving behind her.
"Apparently, she believes that achieving humanoid form is a natural stage of evolution."
"For a psychotic cultivator mare, perhaps it is."
"She was genuinely offended when I called her a horse."
"This sounds a lot like Apocalypse."
Lithara stopped again a few meters in front of him before continuing:
"That’s why she wanted to accompany me to Hell."
Her golden eyes remained fixed on him as she spoke.
"She believes the Underworld possesses enough energy to accelerate her spiritual evolution."
Strax remained completely silent for a few seconds, processing it.
Because honestly...
It made too much sense.
Hell possessed an absurd energy density. Demonic creatures constantly evolved in that hostile environment through spiritual pressure, mana consumption, and continuous survival. For a beast as abnormal as Apocalypse...
That could actually work.
The problem was imagining the end result.
Strax slowly ran a hand through his white hair while letting out another tired sigh.
"This is definitely going to go wrong."
Lithara smiled discreetly.
"Probably."
"She was already as arrogant as a mare."
"Now she’s cultivating among demons."
"Wonderful."
Lithara observed him silently for a few seconds before asking:
"Do you intend to bring her back?"
Strax took a while to answer.
Because the truth was complicated.
Apocalypse had always been absurdly independent. Forcing that creature rarely ended well. And honestly, part of him was curious to see how far it would go.
He finally answered:
"No."
Lithara seemed slightly surprised.
"No?"
"She chose this."
The small frozen particles around his feet began to slowly disappear as the flow of mana diminished.
"Besides..." Strax continued calmly, "if Apocalypse really manages to evolve even further..." A small, tired smile appeared again. "...maybe she’ll come back useful."
Lithara let out a small, low laugh.
"You talk about her like she’s a troublesome weapon."
"Because she is."
"Fair enough."
Silence returned once more to the enormous training hall.
Outside, Asgard continued to thrive.
Locomotives crisscrossed the tracks.
Factories operated tirelessly.
People worked.
The city continued to grow far too fast.
And in the midst of it all, even a damned farm mare had apparently decided to embark on her own journey toward absolute power.
Honestly, Strax didn’t even know what he should consider strange anymore at this point in his life.
The enormous training hall was plunged back into a heavy silence after the conversation about the Apocalypse. Small fragments of black ice still slid slowly across the cracked floor while the residual heat of the White Fire distorted parts of the air near the center of the arena. The contrast between absolute cold and monstrous heat made the entire environment seem unstable, as if the space itself were trying to decide which phenomenon would destroy the place first.
Lithara remained watching Strax calmly as he slowly rearranged the flow of mana around his body. Her presence remained elegant, controlled, and dangerously refined. Even standing still, there was something about her that seemed constantly manipulating the environment around her. The black dress that clung to her body partially absorbed the cold light of the hall, while the red jewels reflected small crimson glints as she breathed.
Then footsteps echoed at the main entrance of the arena.
Light footsteps.
Controlled.
But charged with enough mana to make the runes near the doors react automatically.
Strax immediately recognized who it was even before looking.
Lithara too.
The difference was that Lithara only slightly narrowed her golden eyes.
Meanwhile, the instant Albedo entered the hall...
She froze completely.
The reaction was so immediate that even the flow of mana around her body was abruptly interrupted. Her golden eyes fixed directly on Lithara, while her expression simply froze in an extremely rare mix of absolute surprise and instant hostility.
The entire environment changed.
Albedo’s demonic aura appeared almost involuntarily.
Dark.
Heavy.
Violent.
The ground beneath her feet slowly began to crack as small black particles scattered through the air near the arena entrance. The released magical pressure carried such pure hatred that even some defensive runes near the walls began to glow automatically.
Lithara observed this without moving a single muscle in her face.
Then she smiled.
A small, sideways smile.
Too provocative.
Like someone who immediately identified exactly what the problem would be.
Albedo remained still for a few seconds, staring intently at her.
Then she finally spoke.
"...Why is there another succubus here?"
Her voice was low.
Controlled.
But laden with absurd hostility.
Strax slowly shifted his gaze to Albedo while letting out a small, tired sigh.
Honestly, he had already imagined this would eventually happen.
He just hadn’t expected it to be so fast.
Lithara slowly crossed her arms below her chest as she observed Albedo from head to toe with almost clinical interest. Her golden eyes analyzed every detail of the newcomer like a predator studying another territorial creature.
Meanwhile, Albedo seemed poised to traverse the entire hall, forcefully extracting answers.
Strax then spoke calmly:
"You’re the other succubus."
Immediate silence followed.
Albedo’s expression froze completely.
Strax casually pointed in Lithara’s direction, showing no concern for the emotional disaster he had just caused.
"She’s been with me for over a year."
Albedo’s face completely lost its color.
It was an absurdly rapid transformation.
All the initial hostility simply collapsed into a state of shock so profound that she literally stopped processing her surroundings for a few seconds.
"...What?"
The word came out almost empty.
Incapable.
As if her brain had simply failed to reorganize that information.
Lithara observed this in absolute silence before slowly smiling again.
Now clearly amused.
Very amused.
"Ah..." she murmured calmly. "So that’s it."
Albedo continued staring at Strax like someone who had just discovered a metaphysical betrayal.
"Over... a year?"
"More or less."
Her expression worsened immediately.
Because in Albedo’s mind, there had been an absolute truth until just seconds before.
She was the only succubus connected to her master.
Unique.
Special.
Set apart from the others.
That was a much bigger part of her identity than it should have been.
And now...
Now there was another.
Not just another succubus.
But an absurdly powerful, elegant succubus, clearly intimate enough to casually converse with Strax inside his personal training room.
Albedo’s gaze slowly began to shift from Strax to Lithara again.
And the situation instantly worsened.
Because Lithara was too beautiful.
No.
Worse than that.
She possessed exactly that specific type of refined demonic presence that succubi naturally recognized as dangerous. The way she moved. How she maintained her posture. How she effortlessly sustained eye contact.
Everything about her screamed experience.
Control.
Calculated seduction.
Albedo hated it immediately.
Lithara then tilted her head slightly as she silently observed the other succubus.
"Interesting."
Albedo immediately narrowed her eyes.
"What exactly is interesting?"
Lithara completely ignored the hostile tone.
"So you’re the new one."
The ground near Albedo’s feet cracked again.
"New?"
Strax immediately realized that this was heading towards an extremely irritating disaster.
Lithara continued to observe Albedo with that small, calculating smile while speaking in a dangerously polite tone:
"I confess I expected someone different."
"And I certainly didn’t expect another succubus here."
"Technically," Lithara replied calmly, "I was here first."
That almost made Albedo’s demonic aura explode again.
Strax slowly ran a hand over his face as he observed the two.
Wonderful.
Exactly the kind of psychological trouble he needed at the moment.
Albedo finally managed to partially shift her gaze from Lithara to look back at Strax.
And honestly...
She seemed genuinely shaken.
Not just angry.
Shaken.
"You never mentioned another succubus."
Strax raised an eyebrow slightly.
"You never asked."
The answer was so simple and direct that Albedo literally lost the ability to react for a few seconds.
Lithara almost laughed.
Almost.
She was clearly having far more fun than she should.
Albedo then breathed slowly, trying to regain some emotional control while crossing her arms below her chest.
The problem was that her demonic tail continued to twitch behind her in an extremely revealing manner.
Lithara noticed immediately.
Of course she noticed.
"She’s too emotional," Lithara commented casually while looking at Strax.
"I’M HERE."
"Yes, I noticed."
Lithara’s smile widened slightly.
Albedo seemed closer and closer to a homicidal nervous breakdown.
Strax observed this in silence before finally sighing again.
"Albedo."
She immediately looked at him.
"Calm down."
"There’s a succubus here."
"Yes."
"Another one."
"Yes."
"That’s strange."
"Not really."
Albedo remained silent for a few seconds, staring at him like someone trying to decide whether to accept that answer or start a demonic civil war within the arena.
Meanwhile, Lithara observed the entire situation with absurd serenity.
Then she finally asked:
"Does she always react like this?"
"Usually worse."
"I see."
Albedo slowly closed his eyes.
He took a deep breath.
Then he slowly pointed at Lithara.
"What exactly is your relationship with him?"
Lithara’s smile became dangerously elegant again.
"Complex."
This clearly didn’t help at all.
