“Stop.”, the blunt and brusque tone of the individual figure leaning on the substantially reinforced steel door, covered in head to toe with the remains of the bloodshed that had taken place, spoke. He positioned the weight of his body off the doors frame, standing upright as he stared down the Succubus before him. The Succubus, dazed and speechless, from the unrelenting nonchalance his voice held and the somehow contrasting meaning behind it, stood stagnant, fixed in place.

“Your lying to me, aren't you?”, the Succubus gaped in bewilderment, baffled by the man’s response. Her face paling as she understood that she had underestimated this man. Belittling him, as no more than prey as part of her compensation for the years she had to endure as a summon. The masters preceding him, ever so taunting her and observing her as but a plaything in their eyes, experimented with, tortured. It was something she never wished for, the agony, torment, and anguish. She wanted it to so badly stop, she pleaded, begged, cried, but her cries were never heard.

From then on, after her master having finally died, she was finally sent back to the summoning realm, becoming one with the abyss. But that didn’t last for even half a decade before she was once again summoned by another. Once again, the vicious, gluttonous pile of inflated bulging fat which was her master, called her forth from the realm. But this time, it was different, after having gained his trust, his love, she killed him. Deserted and neglected, facing the hordes of monsters that feasted upon his flesh, mutilating and deforming him, no longer under recognition as his voice screamed in desperation whilst his body writhed in agony. The exact agony she used to experience and condone.

It was her vengeance, her redemption.

After the turn of events having taken place, it was finally concluded with her being sent back to her realm, her home. The masters after him seeming to have inherited the man’s personality and intentions, coincedently, also retaining the same destiny, death. But after time, the needless violence began to take its toll. Her mind began to change and contort, her first few masters, parting from her with memories of kindness and joy, were now replaced by the corpses which littered her path. The people she believed to be pigs, acting as but stepping stones on her path of revenge. It was a paradise for the broken remnants of the Succubus, but resulted in her demise in turn, as she was slowly converted into the monster she had now became.

She began to eagerly show the same fate to others after him, resulting in the present as of now. She, however, never expected that the man in front of her would be more perceptive than his appearance deemed.

“I can... see it, although I don't know how. It just looks so... similar, the pain, the suffering...”, her breathing quickened, fists clenching as she slowly seeped in the rage that had exfoliated from her. Her face altering into one that was traced with hatred and resentment, distinctly different from the one that was devised to imitate the few parts of enjoyment and happiness that was exhibited in her presence. All duplicated from the faces that were enshrouded in the small and few memories that she reveled in to calm herself, the few masters who loved her as of their own, many, many years ago.

*Nicholas*

Nicholas looked at her, pity, reflected in the eyes screened by the tinted visor. She was a broken and lost soul, like him. Contemplating further on the subject, he recalled the reason he was here, to leave this chaotic and tarnished hole which was the dungeon and experiment with the Illusion magic the Succubus yielded. Becoming more rational and concentrated on the task at hand, he confronted the Succubus who glared at him, a blazing inferno of rage and fury hidden behind the wall of bodies that sheltered her from the world.

“Nevermined that though, let's finish this dungeon... Miss ?”, Nicholas motioned to the young girl, his words lingering in the air as she lacked a response to his obvious inquiry. Having had spent enough time fooling around, Nicholas identified the person in question. A lack of manners it may have been to invade on one’s privacy, but he couldn’t bother himself with such trivialities, nor did he know of such a eccentricity as he read through the information laid out in front of him.

Status

Name: Lia Serak

Class: Illusionist

Race: Succubus - Lesser Demon

Titles: The Forsaken, Summoned

Level: 1

Health: 80/80

Health Regeneration Rate: 0.09 per second

Mana: 160/160

Mana Regeneration Rate: 0.10 per second

Strength: 8

Constitution:8

Vitality: 9

Agility: 11

Dexterity:13

Perception: 11

Charisma: 14

Intelligence: 16

Wisdom: 10

Luck:8

Unassigned Stat Points: 0

Active Skills: Illusive Fear (Active) lvl 1 (0%), Illusive Confusion (Active) lvl 1 (0%), Illusive Phantom Pain (Active) lvl 1 (0%), Illusive Appearance (Active) lvl 1 (0%), Illusionary Environment (Active) lvl 1 (0%)

Passive Skills: Mnemonic (Passive) lvl 1 (0%), Ambidextrous (Passive) lvl 1 (0%)

Affinities: Demonic element

Perhaps it was due to being his summoned, but as a result of it, he could examine her status. Her stats were beneath satisfactory in relation to her physical body, but he already foresaw that. Nicholas’ concerns lied in the inferior Wisdom and Intelligence that the Succubus had been given as of level 1. In comparison to himself, she was not what he expected, although, it might have been that perchance he was unique himself. After all, he was a glorified accomplishment of the first to have transcended the limits of humanity themselves. A construction of human augmentation, a machine.

But he had still held high hopes for the young girl, dejectedly, they withered and diminished as he saw the numerical values. Before fiercely being relit with a renewed vigor. He forgot for but a second of the training that had transpired earlier last week. Was it possible if he could do the same for his summoned? If so, he would train the girl until the stats of both intelligence and wisdom met the bare minimum of twenty. Could she do it? Who knew. But he would make her try her best, no matter the consequences it held.

He then looked towards her name, Lia Serak. A name, both elegant and graceful, as was she, well, if you were to let the rage and fury that still persisted in here eyes be dismissed from the memory that was.

“Is that ok, Lia?”, the Succubus reacted to its name being called as the fury and rage grew in size from the corners of her crimson eyes. Almost as if it were like a fire, the raging flames were fueled by the hatred and malice that permeated from her. It was quite the sight.

“I will take that as a yes then.”, Nicholas moving onwards to the now penetrating frost that escaped from the line that separated the two metal doors. He stopped, frost? He hadn’t noticed due to the trait his race held which made him immune to the differences of temperature, both cold and hot, as he studied the door. Tracing the frost with his fingers as he inspected the residue that it left on his fingers.

‘Magic?’, it seemed that there was something of monstrous power behind these very doors, a boss would perhaps be the right terminology for such a thing. He prepped himself for what he believed to be a dangerous and risky battle. He conjured up a Combat Knife, condensed to an even greater state and with a smaller amount of mana due to Shadow Manipulation having leveled up.

Delaying the battle that was about to unfold. Nicholas stood by as he watched his mana and health regenerate to their max capacity, increasing in numerical value before venturing forth with his new comrade in arms. It were to be their first battle together, hopefully, they didn’t sustain casualties this time around as he did during his last incarnation. This time, he once again hoped for change.