[Chapter 183: You're Finally Here]
At that moment, Daniel felt downright scummy. After a relentless game of push and pull with a manipulative woman, he'd finally won a round.
But Daniel knew the Succubus wasn't so easily fooled.
On one hand, she agreed because she coveted his powerful life force. On the other, she was supremely confident in herself.
The night was as dark as ink, quietly dripping through the city like a slow tide.
Daniel sat cross-legged in the center of the Exorcism Room, eyes closed, deep in concentration.
He deliberately dropped his mental defenses and stored all the Magical Artifacts and Seals on his person into the System space. Even the paperweight possessed by Flesh-Mangled Face was taken out and placed elsewhere.
A faint, almost imperceptible scent, sweet like overripe fruit, floated through the air. It seemed alive -- probing, weaving itself, and then, like a vine finding a crack, it seeped gently but firmly into the edges of Daniel's open consciousness.
He didn't resist.
In the next second, a light dizziness and weightlessness hit him as his familiar surroundings rippled and dissolved like patterns in water.
When he opened his eyes again, he found himself somewhere entirely different.
A soft, ambiguous pink light bathed the space; the air was thick with a sweet scent, mingled with a faint, more primal metallic sweetness.
Beneath his feet lay a carpet so soft and plush his ankles sank into it.
At the center, an oversized round bed draped with translucent gauzy curtains stood, hazy and indistinct.
And standing there by the bedside was the Succubus.
Though mentally prepared and having seen dozens of pictures and videos, Daniel was still stunned by her beauty.
The real woman and the images were worlds apart.
She embodied a perfection that crossed race, culture, and stretched the limits of imagination.
Every curve, the sheen of her skin, the fire in her eyes -- they struck every frenzied note of human desire.
She stood still, not moving, while the entire room seemed to glow solely to highlight her.
"You've finally come..." Her voice was flawless, each word a hook that gently scraped at the most vulnerable parts of the heart.
She glided forward on bare feet, silent against the plush carpet.
The closer she got, the harder it was to hide the greed and heat flickering across her face.
She sniffed slightly, savoring the majestic, pure breath of life radiating from Daniel.
"What... what intoxicating power..." she murmured, eyes glazed with ravenous hunger. "Just the scent makes me... shiver."
Daniel held his ground, letting her approach.
With the shrinking distance, he could "perceive" her more distinctly.
She was something between physical and ethereal -- a dense, shifting mass of lustful spiritual energy wrapped in flesh and blood.
That primal metallic sweetness came from the core of this energy.
"Worth my wait..."
The Succubus pressed almost against him now, icy fingers tracing over his chest, her eyes burning with a heat that seemed ready to ignite.
Suddenly, she pushed him toward the bed.
Daniel stumbled back, sinking into the incredibly soft mattress.
She leaned over him, straddling his waist, a victorious smirk blooming across her face, tainted with lust.
"Let me see just how amazing the source of such powerful life force really is."
Then, a crack appeared at the base of her flawless neck.
Like peeling off a bodysuit, the skin slowly slid down both sides with a sticky sound. Beneath was a bloody, raw body, muscles defined and pulsing vessels visible.
Her size had grown larger, towering over Daniel.
The breathtaking beauty from moments ago had become a mangled, bloody mass of pure flesh.
The brutal contrast was a violent shock.
Had Daniel not been prepared for this transformation, he'd have been fazed. Instead, his eyes remained calm, as if watching a film he'd seen countless times.
No twist could stir his mind.
The bloody form drew closer.
Daniel's Spiritual Sense surged, stabbing at the very core of the Succubus's spiritual energy! But it passed like a pebble dropped into the ocean -- erased effortlessly by a much larger, more casual thought.
"Giggle, giggle..." The Succubus laughed, the sound emerging from the mangled mouth, just as seductive as before.
In this bloody guise, though, there was nothing appealing about it.
"Did you really think I wouldn't be ready?" She shifted casually, icy fingers brushing his cheek, leaving a cold, wet trail. "I know you're capable -- strong enough to snatch Chris away from me. If this were the outside world, I'd never dare reveal myself to you. But you don't understand the situation here..."
Her voice took on a mocking pity.
"This is my world. My spirit, my space, my... absolute Domain."
She snapped her fingers.
The plush bed beneath Daniel hardened instantly into a cold iron anvil. The walls melted into flowing lava, crystal icicles hanging from the ceiling.
Swish, swish, swish!
The icicles morphed into long swords, plunging down.
Just as they neared Daniel's body, they vanished in an instant.
The room returned to its original state, as if the transformation had been an illusion.
"Here, I make the rules." A flicker of Dominator light sparked in the Succubus's eyes. "And you... Mr. Exorcist, right now, you're no more than an invited wisp of spirit... a powerful tiger trapped inside a gilded birdcage. No matter how sharp your claws and teeth, what good do they do?"
With a thought, Daniel's clothes shredded away, revealing a lean, sculpted frame that looked carved from marble.
With anonther snap, four thick, dark purple vines covered in suckers burst from the floor at the bed's corners. They coiled swiftly around Daniel's wrists and ankles, spreading him eagle-like across the bed, rendering him immobile.
"Gulp..."
The Succubus swallowed hard, a hungry light shining in her eyes.
"See?"
She leaned low -- her bloody body nearly pressing against him, the suffocating metallic sweetness invading his senses.
Though here as a spirit, Daniel's five senses were intact -- all sensations vivid and real.
"From the moment you stepped in, your fate was sealed. You... and your magnificent life force will be my most exquisite feast... here, forever."
She laughed, seductive and dark, as her bloody form began to press down, ready to savor the long-awaited banquet -- Daniel himself.
"Is that so?"
Daniel's calm voice cut through the air.
Not loud, but unmistakably clear, carrying a sharp power that echoed over the lingering remnants of the Succubus's wild laughter.
*****
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