I Took A Succubus's First Time

That fact was becoming increasingly difficult for Kouhei to ignore after witnessing just how much divine power Via could casually produce without even appearing to put much effort into it. The sheer difference between them was becoming more obvious with every passing second, and Kouhei understood that charging forward blindly would be a terrible idea. He might be able to land an attack if he caught Via off guard, but he could just as easily make one mistake and end up paying for that mistake with his life.

Kouhei had already died once.

The memory alone was enough to make him stop himself before his anger could push him any further.

He didn’t want to die again.

More importantly, he didn’t want to make the people he loved cry because of him.

If he died here, Yuuna and Aria would be left behind too. And Kouhei knew exactly how badly that thought bothered him.

Not only that, his girls would have to continue living while carrying the pain of losing him, and the thought of them grieving over his death made his chest tighten in a way that even the fear of Via couldn’t quite match. He didn’t want that happening ever again. Kouhei couldn’t accept that.

He couldn’t throw his life away just because he was furious.

He tightened his grip around his sword and took another slow, careful breath. The air entered his lungs steadily as he forced himself to calm down, pushing the rage that had been clouding his thoughts into the back of his mind.

His bloodlust was still there.

His determination was still there.

The urge to kill Via hadn’t disappeared either.

The important difference was that his emotions were no longer controlling his actions. He could still feel the anger burning inside him, but this time, he was the one deciding what to do with it.

He wasn’t going to rush in recklessly.

He was going to think.

He was going to fight intelligently.

"Oh?"

Via immediately noticed the change in Kouhei’s expression.

His eyebrows lifted slightly, and the grin that had briefly faded from his face slowly returned. There was a certain curiosity in his eyes now, almost as though Kouhei had suddenly become more interesting than he had been a few moments earlier.

"Although your bloodlust is still there, your heart isn’t raging to kill me like it was earlier," Via said. "You’ve actually managed to calm yourself down."

Via looked genuinely impressed.

"That’s quite interesting."

His tongue slowly passed over his lips as the excitement in his expression continued to grow. The gesture would have been almost casual if the look in his eyes hadn’t been so unsettling.

"It’s going to be much more exciting to break someone who can actually think before acting," Via continued. "Watching you struggle while knowing that you understand just how dangerous this situation really is should make things considerably more entertaining."

Something about Via’s voice made Kouhei’s instincts scream at him.

Via wasn’t simply interested in winning.

He was enjoying himself.

The battle wasn’t merely a fight to him anymore. It was entertainment, something he could play around with while watching Kouhei desperately attempt to survive.

The more Via observed him, the more obvious that became.

The fact that Kouhei cared so deeply about Yuuna and Aria only seemed to make Via even more interested. It was as though Via had noticed exactly which strings he could pull and was already looking forward to seeing how hard he could yank them.

"I’m going to have fun with all of you," Via said, his voice carrying a disturbing amount of enthusiasm. "You, the two girls behind you, and everyone else who decides to join this little gathering."

His eyes remained fixed on Kouhei.

"I’ll make sure that this encounter becomes something you remember for a very long time."

Kouhei didn’t answer.

His fingers simply tightened around the sword.

Via suddenly spread his wings.

The wings were a strange shade of gray, looking distinctly different from the bright and pristine wings normally associated with actual angels. There was something unnatural about their appearance, as though they belonged to something that had been pushed away from the heavens rather than something that still belonged there.

The blade of light attached to Via’s arm suddenly flared up again.

Its radiance intensified dramatically, and the pressure coming from it became much heavier than before. Via lowered his stance slightly, his expression becoming sharper as he prepared to attack.

Then he disappeared.

Kouhei’s eyes widened.

For the first time since the battle had begun, his eyes actually blinked as Via vanished completely from his field of vision. One moment, Via had been standing directly in front of him, and the next, there was simply empty space where he had been.

Kouhei’s instincts immediately reacted.

He felt danger approaching from his side.

The sensation came so suddenly that his body moved before his mind had fully processed what was happening. Kouhei swung his sword toward the incoming attack and managed to catch Via’s blade just before it reached him.

The two weapons collided with a violent burst of light.

Kouhei blocked the strike.

He didn’t stop it.

The sheer force behind Via’s attack was ridiculous.

The impact traveled through Kouhei’s arms and into the rest of his body, and despite successfully deflecting the blade, he was thrown backward through the air.

His body spun uncontrollably for several meters as the force of the attack carried him toward the building behind him.

Kouhei quickly realized that he was about to crash directly into it.

He had only a moment to react.

Before his body could slam into the building, Kouhei transformed into his demon form.

Dark power surged through his body as his wings appeared behind him. The wings themselves were unlike anything a normal demon or fallen angel should possess, being divided between two different aspects of his nature.

Half of them resembled demonic wing.

The other half resembled the wing of a fallen angel.

The strange combination immediately caught Via’s attention.

Via’s expression changed.

"I see... So you are a half one," he said.

His eyes remained fixed on Kouhei’s wings as though he had just discovered something that shouldn’t exist.

"But how could something like this have happened?"

Via’s curiosity was becoming more obvious by the second.

"The children I created by impregnating demons were never able to survive their own bodies," he continued. "They would eventually die because of the holy energy inside them, so how can you, a demon, possess something like this?"

He stared at Kouhei with genuine fascination.

"I don’t think you’re one of my children, and yet you possess something that should have been impossible."

Via’s grin slowly returned.

"You’ve certainly mystified me."