"Fufufu~!" The girl threw her head back, laughing maniacally. She flared her intense demonic aura, posing and arching her back to make herself look as intimidating and seductive as possible. "Who dares summon—"

SMACK!

I brought my hand down hard, slapping the back of her head.

"Oww! What the fuck, Master?!" she yelped, clutching her head. Her terrifying aura instantly vanished.

"What the hell are you doing?" I glared down at her. "Are you trying to seduce me with that bony, flat body of yours? Turn back to your original form. You’re needed for another purpose."

The demonic girl immediately puffed her cheeks out, sulking and rubbing the spot I hit. "Meanie... you don’t appreciate my charm at all," she whimpered, fake-crying as she looked away.

But she didn’t disobey. Her petite body suddenly dissolved into a swirling mass of bloody, black energy. The dark mist condensed rapidly, solidifying into the shape of a massive, wicked blade. I reached out and grabbed the hilt. The dark metal pulsed in my grip, humming with a starved, ravenous energy.

On the floor, Isabella was frozen rigid. Her crimson eyes narrowed to the size of pinpricks, locked dead onto the blade in my hand. Her pale skin turned completely ashen.

"Th-That..." Isabella stammered, her voice shaking uncontrollably. The smug, fearless demon from a minute ago was completely gone.

She recognized it.

"That’s the Demonic Sword..." Isabella whispered, her entire body trembling in just her bra and thong. "The artifact... the one those incompetent cultist bastards failed to secure during the attack on the Imperial Museum. Why... why the fuck is it with you?!"

"Looks like you know your history," I smirked, casually resting the flat of the heavy blade against my shoulder.

"No... no, stay away from me!" she shrieked, scrambling backward on her hands and knees until her bare back slammed into her desk. Real, unadulterated terror dripped from every word.

She knew exactly what that sword did. It didn’t just slice flesh. It bypassed physical defenses and directly devoured the soul of whatever it struck.

If I snapped her neck or blasted her with standard magic, her clone body would die, but her fragmented soul would just safely return to Lilith’s main body. But if I cut her with this?

It would eat her soul fragment completely. She would be annihilated. Dead in the truest sense. A piece of the Demon King, permanently erased from existence without a trace.

I took a slow, deliberate step toward her, letting the tip of the demonic sword scrape against the floorboards. The hungry hum of the blade echoed loudly in the warded room.

"You said you can cut off your pain receptors," I said, my voice cold and entirely devoid of mercy. "You said you can’t be tortured."

I stopped right in front of her spreading legs and pointed the tip of the soul-devouring blade right between her heavy, heaving breasts.

"Let’s see if you can turn off the pain of your soul being slowly chewed to pieces. Start talking, bitch, or I start slicing." I grinned.

I didn’t wait for her to answer. I stepped forward, grabbed a fistful of her long black hair, and yanked her head back.

"Ah!" she cried out, her hands instinctively grabbing my wrist.

With my other hand, I pressed the tip of the pitch-black, soul-devouring blade directly against the soft, pale skin of her cleavage. I didn’t just hold it there. I pushed. Just a fraction of an inch, enough to pierce the top layer of her skin. A single drop of crimson blood welled up.

The reaction was instantaneous and violently dramatic.

"AGHHHHHHH!"

Isabella threw her head back and screamed, a bloodcurdling, agonizing shriek that echoed off the magical barrier. Her entire body convulsed. It wasn’t physical pain. The demonic blade was literally taking a tiny bite out of her soul.

I yanked the blade back an inch. She collapsed against the desk, panting heavily, tears of absolute terror streaming down her face.

"Hurts, doesn’t it?" I sneered, slapping her cheek hard enough to snap her head to the side. "That wasn’t even a scratch. Now, tell me. What are you doing here?"

"I—I’ll talk! I’ll talk!" she sobbed, completely broken. The arrogant Demon Queen act was shattered to pieces. "Please... don’t kill me... I don’t want to die... I will be your slave... please don’t kill me..."

As she begged, her concentration completely slipped. The human disguise she had been maintaining flickered and dissolved. A pair of small, bat-like leathery wings sprouted from her back, ripping through the thin straps of her bra and leaving her heavy breasts completely exposed. A long, slender black tail with a spade-shaped tip uncoiled from the base of her spine, wrapping defensively around her plush thigh. Small, curved obsidian horns poked through her messy black hair. 𝑓𝑟ℯ𝘦𝓌𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝑐ℴ𝓂

She looked pathetic. A naked, plump succubus cowering on the floor, her massive tits heaving as she cried.

Suddenly, the air in the room shifted.

A system prompt materialized in front of my face. But it wasn’t Sol’s usual sleek interface. This one was glowing with an ancient, heavy golden light. It felt like the very fabric of the world was projecting it directly into my retinas. It was different from the system window of Sol.

[The entity ’Isabella’ (Clone of the Succubus Queen Lilith) has requested defection to the Hero, Arthur, based on the free will permitted to her soul.]

[Upon acceptance of this defection, Isabella’s connection to the main body will be permanently severed. Her stats and demonic rank will significantly decrease, and she will become eternally bound to the host.]

I stared at the golden text, blinking in surprise. I lowered the demonic sword slightly.

"A clone defecting against its main body?" I scoffed, looking down at her tear-stained face. "What kind of bullshit is this? Clones don’t have free will."

Isabella shook her head frantically, her small wings trembling. "I’m... I’m a special case! I swear!"

"Explain. Fast," I demanded, resting the flat of the blade against her cheek.

She flinched but spoke rapidly, desperate to save her own life. "You know the world’s barrier prevents high-level demons from crossing over! The main body couldn’t just send a normal clone... normal clones need a constant mana supply from the creator. The spatial barrier would cut it off, and the clone would dissipate instantly!"

She took a ragged breath, her tail twitching nervously. "So... Lilith created a new individual. She carved out one-tenth of her own soul and placed it in this vessel. Technically, I am her clone, but I’m also... not. I have my own consciousness. My own separate will."

"And she just let you have free will?" I raised an eyebrow.

"She had to!" Isabella pleaded. "To not let anyone notice the connection between me and demonic realm, a soul needs autonomy. The only thing hardwired into my soul is the core mission: collect intel and send it back via soul transmission. Everything else... I decide."

She looked up at me, her crimson eyes filled with genuine, pathetic desperation.

"At first, the mission was everything. But... I’ve lived here for so many days. I have a life. I have free will. I made connections... I like it here! I like my life!" She leaned forward, pressing her bare, heavy breasts against my leg, begging. "If I go back... Lilith will absorb me. The ’me’ that exists right now will disappear completely. It’s basically death. I don’t want to die, Arthur... I just want to live..."

I stared down at the naked, pleading succubus. It was a tempting offer, having a former Demon Queen fragment as a direct subordinate. But...

"What if this is a sham?" I muttered, narrowing my eyes. "What if she’s faking it to save her own skin and betrays me the second she gets the chance?"

"She can’t, Master," Sol’s voice chimed in quietly from my side.

I glanced over. Sol was staring intently at the golden prompt.

"The notification your just received" Sol explained, her tone serious. "That is the World’s Will intervening. A direct soul contract verified by the world itself. If you accept her defection through this prompt, the laws of the world will rewrite her existence. It cannot be faked. If she tries to betray you after this, her soul will spontaneously combust."

I looked back down at Isabella. She was holding her breath, her tear-filled eyes locked onto my face, waiting for my judgment.

Why wouldn’t I accept this? I was getting a high-level demonic spy, severing Lilith’s eyes and ears in the academy, and gaining a very willing, very powerful new toy.

"Defection request accepted," I said aloud.

[Processing...]

[Beginning the defection procedure for the entity ’Isabella’.]

[The soul connection between ’Isabella’ and ’Succubus Queen Lilith’ has been forcibly nullified.]

[Isabella is recognized as a new, independent being bound to the host, Arthur.]

Isabella gasped loudly. A glowing, golden chain etherealized around her neck for a fraction of a second before sinking directly into her skin. She slumped forward, resting her forehead against my boots, sobbing in pure relief. She was alive.