Demonic Dragon: Harem System - Chapter 456

Chapter 456: The Succubus Queen, Lithara.
Strax let out a low, husky laugh. His eyes, now more intense, bore into hers with a gleam like that of a predator who had just been challenged.

“If I forget… you’d try to burn me alive, Kali,” he said, his voice low, warm, and dangerously low.

“Exactly,” she replied, brushing her lips against his jaw before pulling away, her feet finally back on the ground. Still naked, still imposing, she made no move to cover herself. The body she wore now was not just a vessel—it was her statement to the world. She wanted to be seen. Tasted. Feared.

Evelyn cleared her throat, breaking the thick tension in the air.

“Well, since the hormonal apocalypse is over for now… can we get back to the part where an ancient dragon nearly tears the fabric of reality apart when he reincarnates?” She crossed her arms, her eyes still avoiding Kali’s glowing body.

Frieren stepped forward, regarding Kali with a more clinical gaze now, that of an empress with over a thousand years of experience. Her voice was calm, almost bored.

“Your core is stable. No ruptures. Impressive. The binding seal worked better than expected.”

“Of course it worked,” Evelyn murmured, still glancing sideways at Kali. “The prodigy there drew the runes as if he were embroidering altar cloths.”

Strax ignored the comment. He walked to the center of the now almost completely dissipated circle and crouched down next to the obsidian sphere, which was now cracked and hollowed out. A carcass. He picked it up and turned it over in his hand thoughtfully.

“Let us now continue, Lithara,” he commented, removing another body and placing it on the magic circle. “I hope this is quick.”

Evelyn narrowed her eyes at the name. She didn’t know exactly who this Lithara was, only that she was a succubus.

Strax simply positioned the new homunculus in the center of the circle, his hands sliding with ritualistic precision over the creature’s translucent chest. It was smaller than the previous one, thinner, almost androgynous. But there was something dangerous about that inert silhouette—as if the body itself knew what was coming.

Kali, now fully dressed in her black energy suit, stepped to the side, watching everything with attentive eyes. Contrary to the levity she had shown earlier, now she seemed more… tense. As if she knew this ritual would be different.

“Are you sure, Strax?” Kali asked, her voice more restrained, deeper. “I mean, I don’t think a demonic spirit will be easy to release and seal in a body.”

Strax simply nodded. “I know.”

Frieren watched from the edge of the room, arms crossed, expression impassive. But even she seemed aware now. More so than before.

The circle glowed again, the runes rekindling with a violet-blue glow, more unstable than before. It was as if the seal itself were wavering, tense, like a thread about to snap.

Strax placed his hands over the vessel and began to chant the words of the veil—but this time, more slowly, more heavily. It wasn’t just the ritual. It was the one being called upon.

The floor shook. More loudly than before.

The shadows didn’t dance—they clung to the walls like black claws, penetrating every crack in the lab. A cold, damp breeze swept through the room like the breath of a drowned creature.

The vessel arched, abrupt spasms making the limbs twitch like twigs in the wind. The light around it flickered, and a scream… no, a litany, rent the air. An ancient, feminine voice, filled with grief and pent-up fury, exploded from within the body.

“How tiring.”

The voice was like glass shattering and silk burning at the same time.

The homunculus’ body began to crack in subtle spots. Thin lines spread like veins of lava beneath the translucent skin. Eyes formed—first black, without pupils, then tinged with scarlet.

Strax stood firm. “Wake up now, I have things to do. Succubus Queen.”

“Ah, it’s you, Strax.” The voice now came from the body, firm, cold, and more controlled. “It seems you haven’t forgotten me.”

“Of course not,” he replied, his voice not defensive but guilt-ridden. “But I’m here. And you can kill me later… if you think you can… But right now, I need you.”

The light from the seal exploded in a blue wave that swept across the floor. And then… silence.

The body in the center fell to its knees.

The skin began to change—a pearly, almost silvery hue, with an unearthly luminescence that seemed to radiate a cold, clear light. The hair cascaded down her back, red as a volcano, like a river of lava.

Her features became defined. High cheekbones, purple cat eyes, and eyebrows arched in a permanent expression of judgment. And her lips… dark, almost black, curved in a half-smile that mixed mockery with suppressed desire.

Two translucent wings began to form on her back—not feathers or leather, but ethereal crystal, veined with pulsing blue and silver light. They fluttered once, then unfolded fully, making a high-pitched sound, almost like the wail of a distorted harp.

Lithara was back.

She looked up slowly at Strax. Her eyes glowed for a second. And then she spoke:

“You freed me.”

Strax nodded, still standing before her. “Yes.”

She took a step forward. Then another.

And then, in one swift, fluid motion, she slapped him.

A slap that sent him flying back five meters, straight into one of the lab’s columns.

Evelyn screamed. Kali growled, her eyes blazing with protective instinct.

Strax fell to the ground with a dull thud, the metallic taste of blood filling his mouth. He spat to the side, the red liquid running down his chin. And yet… he laughed. A low, raspy laugh, tinged with pain—and familiarity.

“Do you hate me?” he said, coughing, as he slowly rose to his feet. “How funny…”

Lithara watched him from above, her gaze as sharp as a blade dipped in poison. Her smile was not one of joy—it was a mask, restrained and cruel, that would never touch her eyes, now tinted an angry violet.

“It’s not hate, Strax,” she replied, her voice as firm as ancient ice cracking under pressure. “It’s reckoning.”

She took a step forward, and the ground beneath her feet creaked with the weight of her accumulated magic.

“You locked me inside you. In a realm of echoes, memories, and oblivion. And I… had a lot of time to think.”

Her eyes shone with ancient fury.

“To think about what I would do when I woke up. To think about all the broken promises. About every second I lived as a shadow. And I came to the only possible conclusion…”

She smiled dangerously. Beautiful. Deadly.

“We will settle our ‘differences’ with blood and sweat, dragon.”

Kali growled louder now, her muscles tensed, ready to intervene—but Frieren only raised her hand, preventing any reaction.

Strax wiped the blood from his mouth with the back of his hand, standing up, his eyes fixed on hers. A similar glow, violent and ancient, appeared in his irises.

He smiled half-heartedly.

“Then we will fight, Lithara. Like in the beginning. Like it should be.”