The Hero Became a Succubus, and the Only Way to Level is to… What?!

The last time Kanae had marched an army to Talahurah, it was to subjugate Talon and put that harpy in her place. She was much stronger now, but so were the enemies. At Kanae's back, the Commonwealth force of 2,000 moved as a uniform and somewhat disciplined unit. Compared to the Empire of Ortesia's training, however, they were still infants playing at war.

Seven dreadmourns and Titan soared ahead at the vanguard of the army. Kanae rode upon her great stallion, and the offsprings followed close behind. The ancestral race of languisteed were demon at their core. They were even regarded as dire beasts in the past. She stroked Titan's mane to bring up his stats sheet.

Dreadmourn Lvl. 53
STR	A	Swift demonic steeds that have high intelligence and are capable of performing skills. Their strength and speed combined with a fearless temperament make them dangerous in a stampeding herd.
DEX	A
INT	B

 

Skills? They sounded useful. Unfortunately, Kanae couldn't access Titan's skills. They were probably his to see alone.

When Kanae glanced over her shoulder, gorags and languisteeds were among the army of mixed races of elves, succubi, demons, humans, goblins, lizardfolk, and more. The mana-vamp starfishes were contained in large crates pulled by oxes. Together, they looked more demon than the Artaggon army.

"Esta!" Kanae guided Titan by the reins over to here drakeling knight, who was riding upon her own flying dreadmourn. "Can you tell me more about Rotandrix dragoons and how they fight?"

It looked like Esta was lost in thought, because when Kanae approached her, she jerked out of her reverie.

"Bad time?" Kanae asked.

Esta shook her head and smiled. "Not at all, Master. I was merely imagining the battles ahead. If it is Rotandrix dragoons you wish to know about, haven't we fought plenty already?"

"And we lost both times, once in Aidenhall and again when they attacked Ehmvier while we weren't there. All I really know about drakelings is from you, and that they're pretty much a martial juggernaut," she said.

"Because they are the shock troopers of the Ortesian Empire." The drakeling nodded. "Dragoon has a meaning other than its synonymity to cavalryman. It may also be used to mean oppress. The role of a Rotandrix dragoon, as led by my mother and brother, is to bear their full weight upon the enemy by taking advantage of their weakness. A castle has its walls, but the dragon's purpose is to find the cracks. My mother Avaline, aptly named the Rook of Rotandrix, excels in finding those cracks and pushing her weight against it."

Just like how Avaline found a weak point in Aidenhall, that being Arum Taum when the Saint Priests were all distracted. Or when Darren attacked Ehmvier after Kanae and her strongest left to intercept the initial Ortesian invasion. Wait… Why did they randomly attack Ehmvier anyway? Surely not in hopes of outright taking the city and ending the war right there…

No, now wasn't the time to be distracted. Facing Avaline and the Rotandrix forces was going to take all her focus.

Esta continued as though falling into a nostalgic trip, "I almost became a dragoon myself, Master. I would have joined my siblings after all of us lost to Darren in combat. However, my mother seemed to expect more from me. Before sending me to Radevic to train for the mantle of Knight of Silver, she told me I had the potential to be the greatest knight. I still hold that memory of my departure dear to my heart."

"It's a little weird, but I think your relationship with your mom is sweet… despite, you know, being on opposite sides of the war." Kanae cleared her throat realizing how awkward saying that was.

"Thank you." She smiled. "One day, I hope to fight this child with my mother's resolve."

"Eh?"

"What? How else would our progeny grow to be strong? It is the parents' responsibility to toughen them up through battle."

"I don't want to beat my own child! I don't want to see you beat our kid either!" Kanae protested.

"Who said anything about beating? We shall spar with great violence, of course." Esta's eyes were practically glistening.

"You're making it sound worse!" she retorted.

A gutteral roar echoed from ahead. Edina, on her dracolich, returned in a gust of wind powerful enough to almost knock them off their dreadmourns. The necromancer took lead. The only reason for her to come back was to warn us that they were closing in on Talahurah, or something was off.

"One of Demon Lord Charron's garrison is up ahead, but you ain't gonna like what I have to say next: it's a been leveled to three hells and back," Edina explained.

"Did I just hear you right?" Minestra, who was among the muscle Kanae brought to even the playing field, asked in terror.

"Minestra, wait!" Kanae couldn't stop the herzulith from descending with her dreadmourn.

They followed after Minestra, leagues ahead of the rest of their army. She was on the ground when Kanae and her companions caught up. Two hands touched the scorched earth of what clearly used to be a campsite just outside of the Imperial Span's off-ramp. Another two hands picked up a broken spear and a tattered banner.

"Don't run off like that! What if there was an ambush waiting?" Kanae dismounted from Titan and approached the herzulith.

"This was the outpost Lord Charron directed Lady to fortify. I can't imagine she went easy," Minestra growled.

"Allow me, Minestra. Devilsight will let me see what transpired here." Lani hopped off her dreadmourn and extended a hand to each item she was holding.

Minestra deposited both into Lani's palms. The warlock shut her eyes, and Chappy flipped open his pages. The pair worked in tandem with Lani incanting a long spell, and the living grimoire turning a page like it was a music sheet during a performance.

"I… I see… a one-sided battle… a sizable force consisting of imps, hobgoblins, and other demons led by a hellhound woman. They were taken by surprise… The food stores were targetted first, and constant attacks through the night left them weary… Avaline's victory here was swift," Lani explained and let both items drop to the ground.

"This makes my blood boil!" Minestra bellowed passionately into the sky. "To think the Empire of Ortesia had such magnificent combatants like the Knight of Gold and Rook of Rotandrix! I want to fight now. I need to!" The herzulith softened up and pressed her index fingers together. "And also to save Lady so that she owes me one. M-Maybe a little kiss."

"I'm pretty sure Lady would sooner bite your arms off." Kanae teased.

"No matter how many times I see it, that big fucking tree is pretty damn amazing." Edina stared off into the distance.

From here, they were able to see the roof of Talahurah's great tree. Their confrontation with Avaline neared. Kanae worried for the twins, Erin and Taileen, but Queen's Love was telling her theye were alive somewhere in there.

As soon as the allied army arrived, Kanae ordered that they make camp on the ruins as a flex that the imperial forces didn't scare them. No doubt Avaline knew they were already here anyway. Once the command tent had been raised, she gathered anyone worth their salt to go over battle plans. 

"Hm? Kanae, I noticed Talahurah still has no walls. No wonder it fell so easily!" Minestra exclaimed.

"It's not my fault the beastmen didn't want to build walls!" Kanae protested. "They said it makes coming and going from the city harder. Regardless, it should work out for us as much as it worked out for them. We'll assault Talahurah from multiple sides like we did the Ortesian encampment at Windy Bog. Minestra, you lead your troops to the north side of Talahurah. Esta and I will attack from the southwest, and Edina and Lani from the east. It's a big city, and all the trees in there gives them the ambushing edge when we enter."

"Can we count on Talahurah's forces to fight back once we liberate them?" Lani asked the war council.

"Avaline has to have that covered. We should rely on what we have here. That's why I bred all those dreadmourns, gorags, and mana-vamps. Our biggest advantage over them is this." She lifted the reversal potion Aisha and Rosaline had developed.

The plan was to incrementally defeat waves of Rotandrix dragoons and Ortesian knights, feed them the potion to remove their anti-succubus magic effect, and then have the Sisters of Sin charm them. Slowly but surely, they would overwhelm Avaline and corner her.

"In that case…" Lani began to leave the tent. "I'm going to work with the charmed Viviren to create the second magic circle now. Obviously, we're fighting to win! But if the battle turns against our favor, we'll have a position to retreat from."

"Anyone wanna take bets on who comes out the victor? My money's Avaline!" Edina plopped down a fat sack of gold.

"Necromancer, you're betting against us?" Minestra raised a brow and folded both pairs of arms.

"Now hold on there, four-arms. I didn't say we'd get beat. I'm saying, Esta's mama has a victory condition we don't know jack shit about. We're thinking about trumping her straight with a full house, when she's looking to bluff if you catch my drift," the gambling squirreling explained.

When Kanae shot Esta a look, she nodded in agreement. Only someone who played high stakes like Edina could have any inkling of what Avaline might be up to. Even then…

Night eventually came and went. To everyone's surprise, Avaline didn't send any attacks or harassed their encampment. A low fog blanketed the surface and frigid winds traveled down from the northern stretch of mountains.

There were much less people in the camp in the morning. Two-thirds less, in fact. During the cover of night, Minestra had taken her Artaggon forces north, taking a wide berth to avoid being seen. Edina and Lani's movements east were less inconscpicuous. Kanae wanted Avaline to see.

"Mornings in Talahurah are so peaceful. What a waste that we must do battle." Esta sighed.

"Let's say hello to your mom. Commonwealth, onwards!" Kanae ordered.

Fiery flares screeched into the sky, signalling for the others to begin their advance.

However, nothing impeded Kanae's approach into Talahurah. No magical artillery. No barriers. No massive drakeling army except an intimate force in a tight formation.

"This is not entirety of the dragoons. Something's off!" Esta warned.

"Sisters, hold off on the mana-vamps!" Kanae ordered.

Two forces clashed in a chaotic battle. The Commonwealth severely outnumbered the Rotandrix dragoons, and despite their lower numbers, were holding their own on the streets of Talahurah. Ortesian knights popped out from the branches in canopy, firing arrows and magic bolts.

Kanae rode Titan towards a trio of drakelings. The dreadmourn picked up speed and slammed into them with devastating force. She dismounted and picked a drakeling up by the horn.

"Where's Avaline?" Kanae asked.

"Master!" Esta bodied another dragoon who was about to slash Kanae from behind. "I don't see my mother anywhere!"

Kanae noticed the drakeling in her hands was sneering. She pulled out a reversal potion and forced the liquid down his throat.

"What did you just… feed me?" he growled.

"Tell me where the Rook of Rotandrix is," Kanae demanded after placing a charm on him.

The potion worked. His demeanor shifted to a more obedient look.

"N… North," he answered stiffly.

"Why there? And why are so few of you here?" Esta asked.

"General Avaline suspected you would attack Talahurah from multiple angles. She made a bet, and it paid off. A small platoon of us stayed behind to hold you back. The bulk of our battalion, enough to outnumber your divided forces, went north to take care of the biggest threat first— Minestra. Even if our force of a hundred loses here, we'll only be a small sacrifice compared to how much more you'll lose!"

Shit.

Kanae and Esta exchanged worried glances. They ended up splitting their forces in Avaline's favor. What now? Regroup with Edina and Lani? Or reinforce Minestra? By the time Kanae reached either of them, the demon forces would be decimated by then.

"I'll give you that, Avaline… but I'm going to take your dragoons in return. Stand and fight for your new queen," Kanae ordered the drakeling.

"Yes, my queen!" He rose and drew his longsword against confused dragoons.

"Master, we'll need to push ahead before Minestra is defeated!" Esta exclaimed.

In spite of being outnumbered, the Commonwealth struggled to break through the dragoon's defensive line. They were just too strong. Fine. In that case—

"Release the gorags and dreadmourns!" Kanae ordered.

Their forces backed away to let raging gorags and stampeding dreadmourns through. The dragoons were immediately thrown into disarray against the brutish, bestial strength of monsters. Drakelings struggled to withstand the pummeling from gorags, tossing them around. Dreadmourns stomping around their backlines kept them from regrouping.

"Esta! We'll go on ahead. If we can subdue Avaline, maybe we can convince the rest of them to stop fighting!" Kanae helped Esta onto Titan, then climbed atop herself.

They flew ahead of the army. Imperial archers appeared all at once in the trees with arrows nocked. Esta lifted her greatshield to defend Kanae when Titan let loose a high-pitched whinny. The archers loosed their arrows all over the place and missed, then pressed their hands to their ears against the powerful screech. Yet Kanae and Esta were perfectly unaffected.

"You have got tell me what kind of skill that was later," Kanae said, patting Titan on the head.

The fighting between the empire and demons took place north, outside of Talahurah. Avaline didn't just prepare for the attack, she took the battle to them. Many imps, hobgoblins, and demons lay defeated on the burning fields. Meanwhile, Minestra was fending off Avaline and dragoons in a losing fight.

Wielding a staff in one hand, the herzulith raised earth golems to bolster her numbers. They were quickly pummeled back into stone. With a wand in another hand, she dispelled scores of magic fired at her, but it only took a few to slip past her defenses. Longswords in the remaining two hands parried and deflected a flurry of attacks from Avaline's fists.

"Where's your spirit, herzulith? Your Lord Charron wished to attack the Empire of Ortesia with such paltry strength? I'm insulted!" Avaline uppercutted Minestra several feet into the air, then roundhouse kicked her away.

"Mother! Your fight is with us now." Esta drew both her greatsword and the Dragon Shield.

"Avaline, wait! We don't have to fight. We might even be on the same side. There are secrets the empire is keeping from you. The Saint Rue they're trying to resurrect is a member of the Cult of Lust and Depravity! He's not the Ortesian hero everyone is making him out to be," Kanae argued.

"Ah! My withchild daughter and her master! I'm pleased to see you both in good health. Few survive Lord-Major Stormcloud's smites. Unfortunately, you are mistaken, Kanae Toyomi. I figured you, as a recipient of Loyalty Fixation, would know. It matters to me not if my loyalty is to a great evil warlord or a charitable monk. I am a drakeling! Loyalty and duty above all else! Now, face me. Let me bear witness to your child's birth!"

Avaline didn't hesitate to charge into battle against Kanae and her pregnant daughter, Esta. 

"Stay back! I-I've learned some new tricks!" Kanae summoned Magic Hands to grope Avaline's breasts.

"I have given birth in battle many times. You feeling up my body is enough to stop me?" Avaline threw a punch that she barely dodged in time.

Kanae jumped back and unwound Lust.

"Mother, grant me a battle that my child will take pride in being born into!" Esta swung her greatsword only to have it caught in her mom's talons.

"You're all grown-up now. I expected nothing less from the daughter who inherited the mantle of Silver. Come!" Avaline flashed a battle-fevered smirk.

"This is not the reunion I was expecting…" Kanae felt defeated already but joined Esta nonetheless.

Their attacks did little to the Rook of Rotandrix. Each time Lust landed a strike, Avaline shrugged off the Turn Horny that came with it. She was merciless. Those fists came down on Esta's greatshield like cracks of thunder. Eventually, Avaline dipped in close to her daughter, grabbed her by the breastplate, and slammed her into the ground.

"Esta, no!" Kanae cried, but Avaline picked Kanae up by the throat. "Nngh… What if you… hurt the baby?"

"If your offspring cannot survive a battle, then perhaps it need not be born. Still, Kanae Toyomi, Knight of Amethyst, and master and lover to my daughter, I should thank you for allowing us to come to blows," Avaline whispered.

"This is a terrible time for sentiments, isn't it? We should be doing this over some tea! Or dinner!" she fired back.

"Like high elves? Pfft. This is much for fun, don't you think?"

"NO!"

"Aargghh!" The pained cry of someone dear to Kanae and Avaline gave pause to their battle.

Amidst the fighting all around them, Esta had collapsed to her knees. One hand was braced over her stomach.

"Esta?!"

"Estaline!"

"The child… it's coming!" Esta said through a clenched jaw.

Their baby? Kanae couldn't believe she was about to have another soon, and it was with Esta. Was it going to be a boy or a girl? If it was a girl, did that also mean she would inherit Succubus Ancestry?

Wait…

Kanae violently shook her head. She had almost forgotten that they were in the middle of a death match.

"Let me go, Avaline! I need to go to her!" Kanae kicked and thrashed, but the Rook of Rotandrix's grip on her throat wasn't budging and neither was it tightening.

"I won't let you interrupt this beautiful moment! Drakeling women must give birth without help in order to demonstrate their strength. Otherwise, the child will be born weak. You're staying right here to witness the birth of your child— my grandchild— with me!" Avaline demanded.

"Why is your culture so weird?!" she groaned.

Esta cast away the greatsword and greatshield. She slipped her fingers into the gaps of her armor, then tore them right off. Pain wracked her demeanor.

"Dragoons, to my daughter! Now!" Avaline roared.

"I thought you said she had to give birth alone?" Kanae gaped in surprise.

"Who said anything about helping?" she asked.

"Wait… WHAT?!"

Nearby Rotandrix dragoons finished their fights and charged at Esta with their weapons drawn. However, Kanae's beloved drakeling knight rose to her feet. She stiff-armed the first attacker, and throat punched the second. When two more attacked her at the same time, she took one of their weapons and struck the other on the head with the pommel.

Esta dropped to a knee and winced. Even so, the other drakelings hesitated to attack her head on. Instead, they sucked in a deep breath and blew fire from their maws. Esta picked up her Dragon Shield to block the flames, and when their breaths subsided, she engulfed them in her own.

"Yes, my daughter! Push! Kanae, with me. Hee, hee, hoo!" Avaline performed an exaggerated, rhythmic breathing exercise.

Unable to do anything else in the Rook's grasp, Kanae had no othere choice. "Come on, Esta! Hee, hee, hoo. Hee, hee, hoo! You got this! I know you do, because no one is stronger and more dedicated to me than you are!"

"What about me?!" Minestra cried from afar.

"You stay out of this!" she shouted back.

Esta beat fist after fist into the ground. Tears streamed down her cheeks, then… she was crowning. The head came first. It had two pairs of small, blunted protrusions. One more push and— crying.

"Beautiful," Avaline whispered emotionally, her voice quivering as if on the verge of crying.

The baby, a girl drakeling had been born at last, a child that belonged to Kanae Toyomi and Estaline von Cleisseldor. Kanae was in love all over again, even with a hand wrapped around her neck.

"My child, my heart." Esta picked up the crying, drakeling baby and patted her on the back. She burped and erupted with an inferno of a flaming breath. The crying stopped.

Their child, however, looked older than a newborn infant… almost like she was already between the ages of two or four. She had soft, red scales on her arms and legs. Cute chubby cheeks were like balloons on her face. Those deep amber eyes stared up at Esta, and the mother gazed back with deep, exuberant affection. Both of their dragon-like tails flicked back and forth with joy.

Then the unthinkable happened. Esta cradled the baby to her breastplate in one hand, got to her feet, and picked up her greatsword.

"Esta… Esta, what are you doing? Now isn't the time to fight!" Kanae yelled.

"There is no better time to fight. Mother, let us clash again!" Esta roared more passionately than before.

"Heh. Ahaha!" Avaline put Kanae down while laughing.

"Uhh…" Kanae stared at thenm in disbelief.

 "Very well, my daughter. You have made me inexplicably proud today. Fear not, Kanae—"

"I'm fearing for MY baby's life!" she cried.

"This war shall only make your child stronger!" Avaline brandished her claws for round two.