The succubus stared in absolute shock at Vinny, who had just shaken off her charm spell. In all her history, with a record as clean as hers, not once had she encountered a man who managed to wake up after being hit with her charm.
Just what kind of willpower and mental fortitude did this require??
“Agh—aghhhhhh!” Now that he’d snapped out of it, Vinny still looked like he hadn’t fully recovered from the mental backlash. He staggered and stumbled like a drunk, looking ready to be knocked over by a stiff breeze.
“Wh-what the hell... Which sect just threw a hidden weapon at this young master’s head?!” Clutching his head, Vinny forced himself out of the charm’s aftershock. His skull throbbed like it had been torn open, and he wasn’t even directing his question at anyone in particular.
The succubus standing nearby remained silent.
The reason she didn’t follow up with a second strike in that moment was because she was simply too stunned. She couldn’t understand it. For any man, resisting a succubus’s charm was essentially impossible—resistance came down purely to raw willpower. And even among the rare few who could resist through willpower, most of them didn’t want to.
So, all things considered, the succubus couldn’t figure it out. Why was Vinny able to break her charm... and more importantly, why would he even want to? What was so bad about just sinking into it?
For a moment, she even found herself doubting whether this delicate-skinned, soft-featured blue-haired youth was actually a normal man at all. But that couldn’t be it either—the charm had affected him. But it shouldn’t have been possible for a man to resist it once it landed. Yet somehow, he did.
There were only two possible explanations for someone breaking her charm:
One, the human had once been charmed by a succubus of nobler blood, and managed to break free. That would have given him temporary resistance for a while.
But that was highly unlikely. Practically impossible.
Not to mention—how would a human even survive being charmed by a high-level succubus, let alone break free?
Even putting that aside, the mental resistance born from breaking such a charm wasn’t permanent. It degraded over time.
For his resistance to have still lasted until now... then the one who’d charmed him before had to be of truly noble succubus lineage. At least prince-tier to start with.
And yet this boy was just a student at Carillian Academy. Maybe exceptional compared to the average person, sure—but there was no way someone like him would have ever even met a high-ranking succubus noble, much less caught their eye.
The succubus knew full well how picky and twisted the tastes of her own kind’s nobility could be.
In succubus society, the diversity of your prey was practically a measure of your social status.
The more variety you ate, the less picky you were—the more garbage you were willing to stuff down your throat—the more likely you were a low-level succubus or incubus.
But the more specific your tastes, the more you were willing to starve for the right prey and obsessively target a single “sheep” when you found it... the more likely you were a noble.
In a sense, succubus or incubus nobles were actually quite “devoted.” They’d capture the food they liked, lock it away, raise it, and never let it go. They wouldn’t overhunt, but they’d only eat their chosen prey.
Low-tier incubi and succubi were more like omnivores. They didn’t care about “restraint” or “pacing.” If they saw a bite, they’d eat it—period. That was exactly why the nobility despised them, saw them as tasteless mongrels.
Not that you should mistake succubus nobles for “human-like” just because of that. They were still demons—just refined in terrifyingly obsessive ways. In pursuit of perfection, they’d reject a target for a single flaw, even if everything else was ideal. Many of them suffered from extreme OCD.
A prince-class succubus or incubus could charm even those of the same sex. If they wanted something, what prey could possibly escape them?
Which was exactly why, from this succubus’s perspective, the idea that Vinny had ever been targeted by one of them was laughable. And anything higher than that? Forget it. That would be a Succubus Queen. Impossible.
So, if that theory was off the table... then there was only one explanation left.
She looked at Vinny with a strange, oddly sympathetic expression.
“Owowowow... ughhhhh...” Vinny finally managed to shake the fog out of his head, giving his skull a violent shake and pulling himself together.
Damn it, that sensation... it was like being yanked out of a blissful dream and dumped into a freezing pond. And the worst part? He’d chosen to do it. Anyone who’d ever tried leaving their cozy comfort zone for a brutally unfamiliar reality knew just how hard that was.
God damn!
That hurt like hell! He finally remembered—this damn succubus had just flung a heart-shaped charm at him.
Now that he’d come to his senses and understood the situation, he gripped his weapon and turned to face the enemy—only to realize she hadn’t attacked him at his most vulnerable.
Oh? Since when did succubi care about chivalry?
That didn’t feel right. It wasn’t right. If she really gave a damn about honor, she wouldn’t be using such dirty tricks in the first place.
So Vinny narrowed his eyes and watched her warily. And then... he noticed her expression.
Wait. What the hell?
Why was she just looking at him like that? Wasn’t she gonna fight?
And that look... why did it feel so weird? Was that... pity??
Vinny scowled. He had no idea what the succubus was thinking—but he was starting to feel like she was looking down on him.
“How unfortunate. So you’re... defective?” the succubus said with a sigh and a pitying smile.
“???” Vinny was filled with question marks. “Excuse me, what the hell are you talking about?”
“Sigh.” The succubus shook her head and pouted. “Too bad. I thought I finally found a meal I could enjoy. But it turns out, you’re just...”
“Oh, hell no.” Vinny was starting to get the gist, and it made his blood boil. His hair practically stood on end. “You damn succubus—what the hell are you trying to say? Are you mocking this young master?!”
“Just as I thought. Even among humans, everyone’s got their own baggage.” But instead of being intimidated, the succubus just shook her head with a knowing smile. His angry reaction only confirmed her theory—it hit a nerve.
“You little—” Vinny let out a half-disbelieving laugh. He didn’t even know what to say.
He had no obligation to explain anything to a damn succubus—but still. It really got under his skin.
Seriously?! Getting his Virtue Points blown up by Aesphyra was bad enough—but now even some bottom-tier NPC succubus could nuke his morality score?
What, was Camella’s Premier Scoundrel finally washed up?!
Furious, Vinny’s aura exploded. He slammed Frostfang into the ground, and ice spikes burst upward.
Frosted Full Moon Slash
The incubus who’d just barely started recovering on the ground was instantly blasted into a heap of frozen shards. Completely and thoroughly dead.
“You damn succubus—you’re begging for a beating! Come here and give me your damn life!” Vinny was about to lunge, but just then—a thunderous boom erupted from the village center. A plume of crimson fire and black smoke shot into the sky.
“Shit?!” The deafening blast left Vinny’s ears ringing, stunning him for a second.
The succubus jumped, startled too. As if suddenly realizing something, she spread her wings and quickly fled the scene.
Vinny couldn’t fly, so there was no way to chase her. But clearly, now wasn’t the time for that anyway.
That explosion came from the church. Something happened on Aesphyra’s end.
Vinny glanced toward the old man and child—they were already evacuated. He left the courtyard.
But he didn’t immediately head for the village center.
He didn’t think Aesphyra was in danger. The reason they’d split up in the first place was because of roles. She handled the hardest part—facing the priest and the mastermind—while he focused on saving the villagers.
“Yo, buddy. Do me a favor and go get reincarnated already. This human world’s real dangerous.” Vinny snuck up behind a succubus attacking a villager and struck from behind.
And since it was a sneak attack, it had to be lethal.
No time to react—one Frosted Full Moon Slash to the head, followed by Frostskin-enhanced elbow to the face. Finish with a clean stab.
Fortunately, the succubi had assumed there was no real threat in the village, so they’d split up. Vinny could pick them off one by one.
Just like before, he didn’t gain any Virtue Points for the kill. The practical exam was being treated as a single event—he’d be judged all at once, at the end, based on his overall performance.
Kills included.
“All right—don’t ask me who I am, don’t ask where I came from, and don’t ask my name. Quit standing there like an idiot and move! This village isn’t safe anymore!” Vinny yanked Frostfang from a dead incubus’s chest and barked a generic evacuation speech at the stunned villager.
He was putting out fires everywhere—these lines just came out automatically.
“B-but... my livestock’s still trapped in the shed...” /N_o_v_e_l_i_g_h_t/ the villager said weakly.
“Bro. You’re this close to dying, and you’re worried about your livestock?! Can you get your priorities straight?!” Vinny snapped.
“Enough. That’s nothing—move! Don’t waste my time, I’ve got more people to save!”
“Y-yes sir...” Cowed by Vinny’s intensity, the villager quickly ran off.
Tsk.
When people valued pocket change over their own lives, there was only one way to deal with them.
Now that most of the rescuing was done, Vinny figured it was time to head to the village center. And one more reason it went so smoothly?
Vinny had seen a lot of succubi and incubi head toward the center after the explosion.
He trusted Aesphyra’s strength—but still, he had to back her up. Just in case.
By the time he retrieved Frostfang and reached the church—just as he’d thought—the one wreaking havoc wasn’t Aesphyra. It was everyone else.
She was completely unharmed.
“C-classmate, I—I was just confused! None of the stuff I said before was from my heart, I swear! P-please! Have mercy, okay?! Oh—right! That’s it! I’ve been acting weird lately because of this demon! That wicked, vile demon corrupted me! It’s all her fault!”
“My mind’s back to normal now! Please let me go! We’re on the same side, right?! I’m one of you!” Vinny arrived just in time to hear Farkas the priest—bound head to toe with nature magic—pleading in a sniveling voice.
Vinny frowned. Up until now, he’d had a bit of a soft spot for priests. Assumed they were good people.
But this one? Just a snake. All venom.
He hadn’t believed Aesphyra at first when she told him the truth.
As for the old wooden church—it had been completely blown to hell. Gone without a trace.
The red-haired succubus nearby looked familiar. She was battered all over, clutching her wounds, long curly hair a mess. Absolutely miserable.
And the one who did it all?
Vinny looked across from her.
Silver-haired girl. Wearing a spotless Carillian Academy girl’s uniform skirt. Same as when she arrived.
Not a speck of dust on her outfit. Not a hair out of place. Black stockings pristine. That elegant, vaguely terrifying smile still on her face.
She looked exactly the same as when she arrived—even her backup school skirt looked fresh out the box.
Vinny had seen her closet. He knew how many spares she kept.
Around her, the incubi and succubi lay collapsed like stalks of wheat. The ones still standing were shaking in terror.
It was obvious at a glance: it looked like she was surrounded, but in truth—Aesphyra was the one doing the surrounding. Hunting them down one by one.
Vinny clicked his tongue.
He couldn’t help but remember—back in his past life, the one who got beat up like that... had been him.