"R-really...?"

"That’s right. This is the real thing."

"Burt" opened her arms, using her broad chest to welcome the guest’s arrival. With that motion, those two imposing peaks even gave a naughty little bounce, showing a different kind of vitality and temptation.

But Ariel’s movement suddenly stopped.

She stiffly lowered her head and looked at her own chest.

What reflected in her eyes was still imposing—actually even more so than the succubus’s—but if you savored it carefully, you would find that in the end it was missing just a tiny bit of lively vitality.

"F-fake...?"

"Hm?"

"Burt" suddenly felt something was off.

By rights, this person should still be under her Charm effect, but why...

...was her own body already starting to tremble?

"You said... who is fake?"

Ariel’s hands slowly clenched into fists. The murkiness in her eyes gradually dispersed, as if surging flames were kindling layer by layer, starting to tear at the things that were clouding her reason.

Maybe this sort of thing couldn’t have threatened her in the first place. She had deliberately indulged in it—and now, with just a spark of angry flame, that false fog was torn apart completely.

"Eh?"

"Burt" retreated step by step, trembling as she said, "Th-this... is that some kind of taboo word you can’t say?"

"I’m asking you... you said... who is fake? What is fake?"

Flames coiled around Ariel’s fists, just like the surging fury inside her.

"N-no... I’m sorry... I don’t know..."

Finally realizing she’d stepped on a landmine, "Burt" hurriedly explained.

"I thought... I thought yours was just armor..."

"Ar...mor?" Ariel frowned. "What do you mean?"

"Isn’t it?" "Burt" gestured in front of her own chest. "If it’s not armor, what is it? Other than armor, would anyone stuff this kind of strong-cushioning soft material in front of their chest? Aside from making the burden on your chest heavier, what’s the use? At least in my succubus clan, there absolutely isn’t—"

Boom—

"Burt’s" words cut off abruptly.

Because Ariel suddenly threw a punch. That fist, wrapped in the flames of Divine Favor, actually blasted out an effect like a cannon. The blazing gale scraped past "Burt’s" face, and quite a bit of her waist-length hair turned into flying ash in the flames.

"Enough. I don’t want to hear you say anything else."

She was clearly a charming, seductive succubus, but Ariel had no mood to appreciate it. She shut her eyes tightly. ◆ Nоvеlіgһt ◆ (Only on Nоvеlіgһt) The glistening at the corners of her eyes—maybe that was blood-tears dripping from her heart.

"Right now I just want to know... how many bones you want me to break."

...

A few minutes later.

The moment the pink fog dispersed, Roya was the first to rush over again.

"Miss Ariel!"

Roya anxiously looked Ariel over, especially carefully checking whether her dress was messy anywhere.

"Are you alright?"

"What could possibly happen to me?"

Ariel wiped the blood from her hands, looking indifferent as she said, "With that level, trying to shake my mind is naive."

"Worthy of the hero!"

Roya’s cheeks flushed red again. Her heartbeat sped up in her chest. She’d been worried about Ariel, but in the blink of an eye, Ariel had already dealt with the crisis easily.

As if to her, these were just trivial little matters.

"But..."

Roya tilted her head in confusion.

"I think I heard that succubus say something about fake—"

"You probably heard wrong. Charm Technique is a kind of mental spell. It’s normal for it to affect your perception too."

Ariel hurriedly cleared her throat and cut Roya off.

"Ahem. Right now isn’t the time to talk about that. Roya, please help treat that succubus. This isn’t the time for her to die yet."

"Understood!"

Roya answered happily, because she could finally be of help to Ariel.

To the side, Termir saw Roya like this and couldn’t help snorting coldly again, going off to the side to sulk.

But Ariel didn’t have time to deal with that jealous kid. She grabbed "Burt’s" long, pale white leg and dragged that succubus out—someone who up to now still only had a male alias.

"Such serious injuries!"

Even Roya couldn’t help feeling shaken.

Because at this moment, "Burt’s" chest was already dyed red with blood. Her originally deflated chest had actually caved in a bit now, and who knew how many bones were broken.

Worthy of the hero—so long as it was an enemy, no matter how cute the other party looked, she treated them all the same.

"But you’re lucky too."

Roya waved her staff.

A warm, gentle radiance surged.

Her frontal combat ability wasn’t outstanding, but just as she’d said, she was an excellent support mage.

So she used healing magic with perfect ease.

Under the magic, the injuries on "Burt’s" chest recovered little by little. The lung pierced by ribs regained its vitality, and she was forcibly pulled back from the brink of death.

But Roya also had excellent restraint. What she restored was only "Burt’s" lung. Those ribs that had been broken by external force and driven directly into her internal organs, however, were still exactly as they were.

This was to prevent "Burt" from suddenly going berserk, and also to make her continue to savor that pain of flesh being pierced.

"How does it feel?"

Ariel asked with her arms crossed over her chest.

"R-really..."

Roya struggled to open her eyelids. Deep in her pupils, lingering fear still remained.

"That was... the real thing... the real thing..."

"The real thing?" Roya blinked, not quite understanding what that meant.

"Who asked you that?"

Ariel’s expression turned cold.

"I’m asking you about being my guide!"

"Guide?"

"I know your demon higher-ups all have blood curses branded into their bodies, so asking you for secrets about Gutongs Castle isn’t realistic. But you should be able to take me in."

Ariel said, "For example, we can pretend we’re captives you caught. Aren’t you grabbing female adventurers right now? That’s exactly our reason for sneaking in."

"You’re making me betray the demon race... betray Lady Enchantress...?"

"Oh? And what’s the problem with that?"

Ariel bent down and hooked "Burt’s" chin.

"Isn’t your demon race exactly that kind of cold, indifferent species? Could there even be something like guilt in your hearts?"

Whether it was the demon race who had once invited Ariel to act in order to wipe out an enemy tribe,

or the Demon General Basaroka from earlier, who treated humans like insects for amusement—

after being tempered by a harsh environment like the Abyss, their coldness had already seeped into their bones.

So Ariel didn’t believe "betrayal" was some unbelievable thing to the demon race.

"N-no... I can’t betray..."

But unexpectedly, "Burt" was extremely resolute.

"I can betray the demon race, but I can’t betray Lady Enchantress."

"And why is that?"

Ariel was baffled. "Is your loyalty to that Enchantress Grand Duke so strong that you don’t even care about your own life? And from what you said before... you seem extremely afraid of that Enchantress Grand Duke, don’t you?"

"Yes. I’m afraid of Lady Enchantress..."

"Burt’s" delicate body trembled, as if remembering something extremely terrifying.

From that alone, it was clear that her fear of that Enchantress Grand Duke was practically carved into her bones.

But even so...

"I still can’t betray her..."

"Why? If you’re afraid of her, afterward I can let you go. The Abyss is so big. As long as you hide, she might not necessarily find you."

"No! The reason I can’t betray her isn’t because I’m afraid of her, but because..."

"Burt" seemed to recall something. Her eyes went blank for a moment, and then a sweetness so intense it felt eerie rose up in her thoughts and smile.

"Because... I love Lady Enchantress... Yes. I love Lady Enchantress deeply..."

"Love?"

Ariel froze for a moment, then said in surprise, "You’re clearly a succubus, and you still got charmed by the succubus king?"

No—

Ariel reacted quickly.

This wasn’t Charm at all, because "Burt’s" state right now clearly didn’t look like she’d lost her mind.

The love in her mouth right now... sounded like real love!

Because that sweet train of thought couldn’t be faked. When someone deeply loves another person, you can get the answer from their eyes.

She was so afraid... yet she deeply loved that succubus king!

"Ariel!"

Ariel suddenly heard her teacher’s heavy shout by her ear:

"Retreat, now! There’s an Evil God’s Pollution aura on this succubus!"

"What?!"

Ariel grabbed Roya and retreated rapidly, dragging along Termir too, who had no idea what was happening.

At this moment, the love on "Burt’s" face grew even thicker, even reaching a kind of fanatic level.

"Ah... Lady Enchantress... yes... I love you... so... so please... please give me... give me more, more love..."

Wounds appeared out of thin air across "Burt’s" body, blood streaming, sketching a bizarre and delirious tableau.

But "Burt’s" cheeks were flushed, like a tender young girl shyly about to bloom, staring across endless void at her "lover."

She watched her "lover" smiling as she left wound after wound on her body—gently and lingeringly peeling off her skin, tearing open her flesh.

That pain made her feel bone-deep fear... and at the same time made her feel bone-deep love.

This was love that burst forth from the very extreme of pain, after long torment.

Then, polluted by a will from outside the world, and thus finally turned into completely... twisted love!

"Evil God? This suddenly? Which one?" Ariel retreated again and again, and in passing also hauled along that little junior brother Termir who still didn’t know what was going on.

"Who else could it be? Something that can make someone twisted to this extent—other than that legendary Love God, there isn’t a second one."

"But I didn’t see any medium, and I didn’t give her a chance to pray to an Evil God."

"No medium is needed..."

Ariel’s teacher’s soul power watched "Burt" warily, his tone heavy.

"She probably got the Love God’s seed planted in her at some point, without realizing it."

"Seed?"

"Yes. That’s the most disgusting part about that Love God. Thanks to the intangible Authority of 'love,' his Pollution doesn’t need such obvious traces, and it doesn’t need long contact either. He only needs to silently plant a seed deep in someone’s heart—and when the love in the heart of the one who was seeded begins to twist... the seed takes root and sprouts!"

Ariel’s teacher sighed.

"Love doesn’t just have believers. It also has slaves!"