Chapter 162 – Succubus Love

Chapter 162 – Succubus Love

"Saeko, are you sure about this?" Hatsumi asked worriedly.

"No... definitely not, but Mio wasn't exactly giving me a choice," I said.

My sister glanced back at the two combatants and sighed, particularly at our mother, whose succubus form was a troubling sight to her.

"I still can't believe our mom used to be a succubus. It puts a lot into perspective though, but it hasn't changed how I feel about her. If she loses, I won't shed a tear. Mio, however... isn't there too big of a difference between them?" she asked.

"Yeah..."

There was no foreseeable outcome that Mio emerged as the victor.

We brought them deep into the forests to do battle. My scouting succubi assured me that there weren't any humans this far out. Yumi and Hana were giving Mio a pep talk, and Delilah stood alone with both arms folded and eyes shut in thought. Whatever was on her mind was a mystery to us. When I had brought it up to her what Mio wanted, she didn't hesitate to accept the challenge.

One thing was for sure. Delilah once served as an assassin. A lethal one at that. She was also a greater succubus. Mio, though she had a little more firepower than a regular succubus, stood almost no chance.

Did Mio actually ask for this fight believing she would win? Just what was the point of this?

For whatever reason, Layla and Selene guarded me closely. It was instincts, they said. I was 100% sure Selene just wanted to be near Hatsumi, and Layla was in a post-coitus high around me.

"This fight will be a no holds barred," Yumi began as she walked to the space between Mio and Delilah. "Anything goes. The only rule is that you may not take the life of the other. You may fight until the other surrenders, or until they can no longer fight. Is that understood?"

"Yeah," Mio said, cracking her neck.

Delilah nodded. Her eyes snapped open and arms fell to the side.

Yumi glanced at me as though asking if I wanted to let this happen. I didn't say a thing, and only held her gaze, so she flew up to let them begin.

"Eat shit, bitch!" Mio kicked off the match by firing a volley of magic orbs.

They exploded on impact, engulfing Delilah in a cloud of smoke and dirt. My knee jerk reaction cheered Mio's direct hit. The trees behind her had parts of their trunk blown into bark. It was Delilah who blew away the dust with a wave of a hand, and she was mostly unhurt by the spells.

Mio clicked her tongue, leapt into flight and pressed her hands together. As she parted them, a crackling ball of black energy continued to grow until it was the size of a giant beach ball. She sent the destructive spell screeching towards Delilah, but the greater succubus scratched the space in front of herself to open a portal to consume it, promptly closed it shut, and waited for the next.

Ticked off, Mio unleashed an anguished wail and launched herself at Delilah. She threw a punch that the other caught in her palm, twisted, and was sent crashing into a tree. That didn't stop her. Mio continued to throw herself at Delilah, whose actions were to play on the defensive. She made it look like child's play.

"You think you're doing me a favor by not fighting? Fuck you! Fight back, damn it!" Mio screamed.

Hatsumi inched forward, almost like she wanted to jump in to comfort her. Meanwhile, my heart ached with every grunt and missed or blocked hit from Mio. I'd never seen her in such pain before. Not even when facing Beatrice.

"Very well," Delilah said, casting me a look before driving a fist into Mio that hammered her into the ground.

I tensed up right away and clenched both fists. Delilah wrenched Mio from the earth and threw her square across the clearing until she hit a tree, then fired a spell from her palm that annihilated the tree into splinters. Only Mio and the trunk she sat up against remained, but she climbed defiantly to her feet.

"This is no contest of strength," Selene glowered.

"Q-Queen Saeko, Mio might get seriously hurt if she keeps fighting!" Layla warned.

"I know that, but..." I gritted my teeth to keep from jumping in there.

If I intervened, Mio was going to leave. Of course, I wanted her to win, but she was going to lose at this rate and disappear from my life anyway.

Delilah made her way to Mio slowly and gathered magic at both palms of her hands. Mio didn't bother moving anymore. She waited for the final attack with fangs bared. When Delilah raised one palm to fire, I summoned the Blade of the First Temptress to shoot a spell and deflect it.

All eyes fell to me.

"What are you... doing? I told you... not to get in the way," Mio groaned, peering at me through one eye because the other was swollen shut.

"Shut up! How the hell can you expect me to sit by and let you get hurt? I'd never forgive myself. Kana would never forgive me. If you're going to leave anyway, I'm not letting your last memory of me be some little scaredy-cat who just watched you get beaten up. I want you to at least know that I'll always choose you."

"So am I to assume that this battle is over?" Delilah asked, snuffing out the spell in her other hand.

"No." I shook my head. "Now it's our turn to fight."

"Then end it. You can change me back into a human. This fight need not happen—"

Magic sparked along the tip of the sword again and blasted Delilah away. She unfurled her wings to bring herself to a stop against the momentum, shock written on her face that I would do such a thing.

"Saeko... I don't want to fight you," Delilah said.

"But I do!"

I flew in and swung my sword at her, but the attack was met with Delilah's claws. She tried to back away with it in her grasp, so I let go of the handle and drove a right hook into her. The punch, too, was blocked by another hand. With my free hand, I conjured a magical explosion that blasted her through several trees, then resummoned my sword when it had fallen away earlier.

While Delilah was struggling to get back to her feet, I commanded the sexual energy gained from my foursome the other day to the tip of the sword, molding it into a destructive force. She faced me unflinchingly, feet planted firmly on the ground.

"Saeko, if you keep using that sword's powers—"

"I know already! But right now, all I want to do is hurt you like you did me all these years. Like you did to Mio! So if you want to be my mom again, then you better believe that we're going to be fighting like family!" I shouted.

As I fired the spell, Delilah scratched the space in front of her again, but a portal didn't open up this time. Seeing that, her shoulders slackened and sighed. A massive explosion engulfed her, blowing away leaves from their branches and loose debris from the ground in the immediate area.

When the dust cleared, Delilah was badly hurt and lying in a small crater.

"I wonder why..." Delilah began, wincing as she clutched the side of her abdomen. "This... isn't so bad..."

She promptly passed out.

Using the remaining sexual energy in the Blade, I transformed Delilah back to a human woman.

"Selene, Layla. Make sure my mom and Hatsumi get home safely," I ordered.

"It shall be done." Selene bowed.

"As you wish, my queen!" Layla rushed to pick Delilah out of the hole.

"Saeko." Hatsumi showed up in front of me and wrapped both arms around my back. "I'm proud of you for standing up to her when I never could have. It's just too bad you're no longer the cute little baby that used to hold my hand anymore."

"Okay, okay... I get it. Come on, sis. You need to get home, and we need to clean up before someone wanders into the forest," I said.

I dragged her away from the bathroom and followed Hatsumi into the living room.

Delilah— My mother was lying down on the couch with a cold pack pressed to her head. The bruises from our fight were still fresh, and she hadn't made any effort to hide them with makeup.

"Saeko." She nodded to me from the couch.

"Hey, mom...." I avoided looking her in the eyes, leaving Mikami confused.

"Did we... come at a bad time?" Mikami asked.

"It's nothing." Delilah sat up to face us. "Mikami, I heard from Hatsumi and my husband that Saeko works with you. Thank you for seeing to my... daughter's wellness."

"N-No! Thank you— wait, why am I saying thanks?" she stammered.

My mother turned to me. "Saeko, I doubt you came home to apologize or to tell me you want to move back in. Is there a reason for your visit?"

"We're here to exorcise Dad. Whether you believe me or not, there's a ghost haunting him. Is he here?" I asked.

She scoffed at the notion. "Ghosts? Don't be ridiculous. You're here to gloat, aren't you? Well, you're here. So out with it."

"Wow, okay. You want to make this about you? Why don't you come out and say whatever's on your mind? Or maybe you're afraid to now after what happened yesterday—"

An unnatural shriek erupted from upstairs that made my blood go cold. The four of us traded uneasy glances, then raced upstairs. As we bursted into my parents' room, Dad was lying on the floor and writhing while clutching his stomach.

My mother pushed past us.

"Honey? What's wrong?" she asked, kneeling down as worry wrinkled on her face.

"Chihiro... Saeko? I don't know... I thought it was indigestion, but... It's like something is ripping out of my stomach," he groaned.

She couldn't see it. Hatsumi couldn't either. Mikami and I saw it clearly. Two ghostly hands were protruding from my father's stomach, like it was trying to crawl out of a hole.

"I'm calling an ambulance." Delilah reached shakily for her phone.

"There's nothing an ambulance can do. You have to let me and Mikami work!" I exclaimed.

"Saeko, now isn't the time to screw around!" she screamed, startling me and Hatsumi.

It was the first time I'd ever seen her so panicked.

"Mrs. Ito, please trust us. I know the occult sounds silly to you, but succubi are real, right? Find it in your heart to believe that ghosts can be real, too, and one is hurting your husband right now," Mikami insisted.

My mother looked me in the eyes as though searching for any signs of foul play. She eventually relented, albeit struggling to let go of him.

I took that as her agreeing. We didn't spare another second. Mikami pulled out a container of salt to form a circle around my father.

"Grab the cross and prepare to light a fire," Mikami said.

"But there's no candles?" I asked, procuring the wooden cross and searching blindly for the candles.

"Not the candles. The salt!" Mikami finished making the circle of salt and stood over my father while rubbing her hands together. "Now!"

While holding the cross up, I casted a fire spell to ignite the salt. Hatsumi and Delilah backed away from the flames, but Mikami braved the licking fires. She reached down to grab the ghostly hands and pulled.

"Get out of there, you stupid American ghost. This isn't your body to possess!" Mikami growled.

The lamp on the nightstand shattered, cutting Mikami across the arms, and a few glass shards embedded into the mask.

One more hard yank and Mikami dragged a white humanoid ghost right out of my father. It unleashed a banshee shriek before disintegrating. The fires went out, and the cross in my hand cracked.

"Whew! Maybe I could find work in the States." Mikami brushed the sweat from her brow and clapped her hands.

My mother tearfully lifted my father into her arms and breathed a sigh of relief. I'd never seen them show so much emotion before. At least I knew for sure their love was real.

Mikami bumped my waist, causing me to stagger right up to my parents.

"Occult services, huh?" Dad grinned and extended a hand to me.

I almost didn't take it, and when I did, he pulled me into his arm and rubbed his knuckles into my head.

We cleaned up the room and had to leave since there were other clients to see. Although my parents were still spooked, they both looked much lighter and less tense than before. Hatsumi was upstairs, looking after our father so it was my mother who came to see us off.

"Thank you," Delilah said.

"No problem! If you ever need an exorcism, just give the Menagerie a call!" Mikami handed her a card.

As we left, I glanced over my shoulder. The stone cold expression that was usually on my mother's face, her lips curled slightly into a smile and nodded in my direction.

After a whole day of exorcising, I still couldn't get my parents out of my mind. I wondered if it was worth forgiving them. If today was any indication...

But there was also Mio...

I landed in front of my apartment at the end of the day and was confused to see the lights bleeding through the window. Odd. I didn't leave the lights on when I left this morning. Pressing my ear to the door, I heard chatter from inside. I also felt a very familiar aura.

When I opened the door, Kana and Mio were inside having dinner. There was a hot pot between them, and a variety of dishes around them. The smell was heavenly.

"Welcome home, Saeko!" Kana beamed.

"What's... going on?" I asked, throwing glances at Mio.

It took Kana to give Mio a push for her to finally stand up and clear her throat.

"Look, I still hate your mom's guts. Still haven't forgiven you, but... I don't want to leave anymore. Getting my shit kicked in, I didn't even know what I was thinking, man. Then I watched you kick Delilah, your own mom's ass, and I thought... shit. That's hot as fuck. It's gonna take time getting used to who she is to you, but realize I love you and Kana more than I hate her. So... yeah..."

"Is it really... okay?" I asked, slowly coming in and afraid that them being here was an illusion.

"I swear to... Just get in here and eat with us already! I read somewhere that make up sex is the best kind of sex. So if your ass is really sorry, then eat up and get ready to pleasure me all night. I say that's a start," Mio said.

Unable to control my emotions with tears running down my cheeks, I ran into the room and threw my arms over Mio. I didn't care if she wasn't ready yet. I was so scared that she was going to leave me, that if I let go right now she might actually disappear.

"Aw, geez. How many times do I gotta tell you I ain't good with sappy stuff?" Mio sighed and put her arms around me.