The Last Drop of Hope, Chapter 28 (Patreon)

It had started only two days after the magic came back, shortly after the defeat of Beldia. There had been enough security forces in Spoke to keep a lid on things, though the transportation network had been locked down. Clara, Becky, and Triss had at first been astonished to find they could once more use their skills, but they didn’t wait long. They had been enslaved by a pimp, and they’d drained him dry, quite literally. They skirted the details, but it was clear enough that the man was dead, and no one seemed terribly broken up about it. 

The three succubi had simply laid low for a few days, full of mana and grappling with the current situation. Spoke was fairly peaceful, there hadn’t been any widespread riots or looting, but NyteTech had fallen to pieces and there was no food coming in. The Succubi weren’t geniuses, but they’d known things were going to get bad. They’d set out to create a nest for themselves to weather the storm in, taking over their pimp’s bar, and the basement underneath the building, which they showed Kazuma and the others. It was a large, comfortable bolthole, though not as comfortable as the upper room lounge they’d taken to using in the past couple of days.

It had been that vault that saved them. 

Six days after the death of Beldia, Masked Media had shown up. Normally, they were entertainers, reporters, and spin doctors. They ran brothels, casinos, theaters, and television stations. For a price, Masked Media could deliver whatever earthly pleasure you wanted. 

And it was Masked Media that the succubi feared and hated above all. CEO Vanir, the very demon who had brought most of the succubi to Belzerg, had been the one to start chipping them, turning them into mindless pleasure slaves. This was a fate worse than death, for it could turn the succubi into a mindless meat puppet. But, the chip, just like the one at the base of Lolisa’s spine, still contained their personality and memories. So long as it was in place, so long as the succubi did exactly as their masters demanded, they could retain their minds and a semblance of autonomy. 

But a single act of defiance and their chip could be overridden, turning them into a glorified sex doll. Worse, the chips could be used to erase or write memories into the succubi’s minds directly, meaning they never knew if their memories and minds were their own. 

Upon hearing that Masked Media was moving into NyteTech turf and asserting authority, the succubi had charmed as many men as they could get their hands on, grabbed all the food they could, and locked themselves into the vault and did their best impression of a hole in the ground. Clara was also clever enough to know they had a limited food supply, and would need to ration themselves. They’d fed on the men, but not so much they were truly harmed by the experience. Indeed, now that were awake and more or less aware of what was going on, the men were protesting and posturing, trying to get their “lovers” free again. 

A few threats from Megumin got them to shut up, and the succubi finished their story. They’d stayed in the vault for several days, watching in fear through their little peep holes. On the third day they’d been in there, two days ago now, they’d seen massive streams of people walking towards the center of town. It had been orderly and organized, and the succubi had been able to sense magic in the air. Worse, they’d seen many of their sisters and brothers, the hated incubi, shepherding the mortals, flying over them and crooning to them in magic-laced words. 

After a few hours, there were no more mortals to see. They saw their fellow demons do a few sweeps over the town, then they’d heard the sounds of fighting, and felt the ground shake. That hadn’t lasted long, however, and after that, the streets had been utterly deserted. 

“And, well, we sort of just moved upstairs. It’s better ventilated, and we sent the pets out to scavenge supplies,” Becky finished. 

They were now downstairs back in the bar, having moved out of the rather fragrant upper room. The “pets” had been sent down into the bunker, though what the hell they were going to do with two dozen mind-controlled men of various races was something Kazuma would have to deal with later. 

“Right, I think that answers at least some of our questions,” Kazuma said with a heavy sigh. He took a drink from his glass, which was filled with some energy drink the succubi had squirreled away. He had been tempted to dip into the alcohol, but had decided he needed to stay on his toes for this one. 

Besides, if he fell back into that hole…he didn’t know if he could climb out again. He’d only gone sober because of what Chris, or rather, Eris, had done to him, and because it had been enforced first while running for his life, and then during his recovery. 

“Have your little pets go take a break, Komekko,” Megumin told her sister, earning her a glare from Kazuma. 

“Hey, they’re people! And whatever Komekko did to them… shouldn’t we like, break it or something?” Kazuma demanded. “She’s mind controlling them.”

“Oh, we don’t mind!” Triss said happily, beaming at Komekko. “She’s just such a wonderful mistress! I just know we’ll enjoy serving her!” 

“Yeah, I don’t think we can take the word of someone who’s been brainwashed,” Kazuma said dryly. 

“W-well…I’m not sure,” Yunyun said, taking a bit of jerky and holding it up to her bust. The first time she’d done that Kazuma had been baffled, then nearly fell out of his chair when the little black face with yellow eyes had popped out and grabbed the morsel. How the hell had Yunyun found a freaking cat of all things? You’d think someone would have eaten it. “T-they’re not exactly on our side, a-and if we just let them go…”

“We could just kill them,” Megumin pointed out, narrowing her eyes at the succubi. They let out wails and fell to their knees around Komekko, while Kazuma slammed his hand on the table.

“No, dammit! They helped us! You don’t repay help by killing people! No one will want to help you again!” he snapped.

“You’re not killing my minions,” Komekko huffed. “They gave me snacks! Plus, I made a contract. You can’t just break a contract!” 

“Contract shmontract, you put a whammy on them somehow,” Kazuma said. “I won’t lie, probably helped us out a bunch, but you can’t just go around mind-controlling people. That’s like, super evil, and we’re supposed to be the good guys.”

“I can’t mind control people, just demons,” Komekko said with a shrug.

“Dammit, they are people!” Kazuma snarled. 

“They’re Outsiders, and demons,” Megumin said quietly, her red eyes gleaming.

Yunyun nodded. “Demons a-are just negative emotions that form into a being. T-they’re born out of chaos and entropy, and are always e-evil.”

“Do you think Lolisa is evil!?” Kazuma snarled, pointing to the fourth succubus, who was sitting as far away from Komekko as she could at the table they were at on the other side of Kazuma. 

The three sisters all nodded, and to Kazuma’s disgust, so did the three succubi. He turned to Lolisa, only to see a pained look on her face as she nodded as well.

“Kazuma…I am evil. That’s literally the definition of a demon. That’s what I’ve been trying to tell you. I eat people. You…you can’t let yourself see me as a person. Maybe…maybe I should just make a contract with Komekko…”

“It’s great!” Clara said happily, a dreamy expression on her face. “Just like in the good old days. You don’t have to think, don’t have to worry, you just do what your Mistress tells you! Plus, all the mana you can take!” 

“Wait, WHAT?!” Megumin snarled, whirling on the succubi. 

Yunyun’s face went blank, but she also summoned a wreath of flame around her left hand.  “If you even THINK of laying a hand on my little sister, I-I swear-”

“It’s not like that!” Becky clarified hastily. “We get mana through the bond! We can funnel some of what we feed on to our master normally, but, um…I-I don’t think that would be appropriate, considering…”

“We would never hurt Mistress Komekko,” Triss added stoutly. “That would violate our contract! So we’ll protect her from anything like that!”

“Don’t worry, they just get some of my mana through the bond. I got a special skill called Glutton that lets me convert food to mana!” Komekko said brightly. “So as long as they give me lotsa snacks, they get unlimited mana!” 

“Wait, speaking of your bond, where’s Hoost?” Kazuma said, looking around. 

“Keepin’ watch,” Komekko explained.  “He’s mad ‘cause I got new familiars. But I’ll just have Clara and Becky and Triss give him some corn and he’ll be fine.”

“Did he find anything?” Megumin asked, peering through the crack in the plastic sheeting that had been nailed to the window. 

“Nope. Nothin’. All the trains and stuff are gone, and all the people are gone too,” Komekko said with a shake of her head. 

“So all the people up stakes and left, a horde of demons swept through town, Masked Media was behind it, and there was a battle that didn’t leave any signs,” Kazuma growled, scrubbing at his hair. This didn’t make sense!

“Yep,” Komekko agreed. “Well, except for the big crate and all the buildings that burned down.”

Everyone turned to look at her, and she blinked. “What?”

“You said Hoost didn’t find anything! I think a giant crater counts as ‘something’!” Kazuma said, jumping to his feet. “Come on, that’s our only lead.” 

To his irritation, Megumin was out the door and sprinting across the city rooftops in a heartbeat, leaving the rest of them to trudge along behind.

Well, except Komekko, who got a piggyback ride from Clara, who seemed absolutely delighted to have the privilege of doing so. It was to the point that Triss and Becky shot their compatriot jealous glances, then tried to offer Komekko more snacks as they jogged along. 

“Freaking creepy,” Kazuma muttered, shaking his head as the succubi cooed over Komekko. 

“It’s actually pretty natural. Or, well, it was,” Lolisa told him as they hurried along. Kazuma gave her an incredulous look, and she sighed. “Look, most succubi were summoned to this world by mortal mages. Those that weren’t served Vanir or one of the other demonic nobility. It’s been…well, it’s been sort of weird and unnatural for this many of us to have to make our own choices. Free will isn’t really something demons naturally have.”

“That’s bullshit, you’re able to make choices the same as anyone else, and I’ve yet to meet a succubus who wasn’t horrified at the thought of bein’ chipped,” Kazuma snapped back. 

Lolisa waved her hand back and forth. “Well, yes, I guess? But that’s new, Kazuma. But choices? Kazuma, succubi are compelled to do evil. We exist to cause pain and misery amongst mortals, like all demons. In our case, it’s to pervert the desires of mortals and disrupt the natural pleasure they should get from one another. We turn love into lust, and feed on that.”

“Ok, well, if you’re so evil, why did you help kill Beldida even if you knew it would hurt you?” Kazuma demanded. 

Lolisa opened and closed her mouth a few times, then looked away, blushing. “...I don’t know. Maybe I just thought it was my best chance at survival.” 

“Pull the other one. You’re a good person. And you can’t tell me that the way they’re acting isn’t super creepy,” Kazuma said, even as Komekko giggled and gave Triss an affectionate pat on the head, much to the demoness’ delight. 

“...” Lolisa looked down, and Kazuma couldn’t read her thoughts. He tried to get her to talk again, but she refused to respond more than monosyllabically.

After about 10 minutes of running, Kazuma was panting too hard to be able to talk anyway, and he ended up vomiting and gasping for breath, leaning against a dead street lamp. 

“Are you sick?” Komekko asked as Clara came over.

“He’s still recovering from being dead,” Lolisa told her. “And not everyone is a super soldier like a Crimson Demon.”

“Super soldier?” Yunyun asked, frowning. “I-I thought we were just a demi-human race.”

“I mean, sort of. You were made in the Kingdom of Noise to fight the Demon King before it fell,” Lolisa explained. 

“Guess we didn’t do a very good job,” Komekko commented, making a face.

“Huh? Oh no, your ancestors completely trashed the Devil King’s Army, Mistress,” Becky assured her. “You even killed his son and General Nagika.”

“Yeah, it was the other super weapon called the Destroyer that destroyed Noise while the Crimson Demons were fighting the Devil King,” Becky agreed. “I wonder what happened to that, anyway?”

“Probably got blown up by the Crimson Demons, or the Generals,” Clara said with a shrug. “Do you want us to carry him, Mistress?”

Lolisa very intentionally slid the bolt back on her SMG, staring stone faced at Clara and the other succubi.

“Or not! W-we wouldn’t touch him, Lolisa! Honest! We serve our Mistress now!” Clara assured, but she took several hasty steps back. 

“W-we need to see what M-Megumin found,” Yunyun said, looking anxiously ahead. 

“Go on, I’ll catch up,” Kazuma rasped, wiping bile from his chin. “Just…just gotta take a break…”

“You sure? It’s scary here,” Komekko said, looking worried enough to warm Kazuma’s heart.

“I’ll stay with him,” Lolisa said, guiding Kazuma to the curb and gently helping him take a seat. “You run ahead and figure out what happened at the crater.”

Yunyun nodded her agreement and motioned to Komekko, and the others departed, the succubi still squabbling over who got to give Komekko a ride. 

Groaning, Kazuma put his back to the lamppost and closed his eyes, feeling weak and pathetic. He couldn’t even keep up with a teenage girl and a bunch of hookers carrying a kid.

“Kirayama.”

“Huh?” Kazuma cracked open one eye, frowning at Lolisa, who was staring at him intently.

“Kirayama. That’s my name.”

“Uh, I thought your name was Lolisa?” Kazuma said, sitting up and trying to meet Lolisa’s intense stare. 

“Demons' names are secret. If you know our name, you can have power over us. Our true names are used in summoning rituals and the like. I don’t know how Komekko compelled the other three to give her their true names, but as soon as she said them, and then gave them an offering that was accepted, they were bound to her will,” Lolisa explained, glancing away. “It also gave me some power over them. And, well, anyone else who heard it. Succubi NEVER tell one another our true names.”

“So…why did you tell me your name?” Kazuma asked, his heart thudding in his chest as a sense of awe and horror washed over him. Power over Lolisa? What did that mean? Could he bind her like Komekko had the others?

“Because…because I trust you, Kazuma. And…and if I ever…do something to you…knowing my name…you can make me stop,” she admitted, her eyes locking on to his. 

“That’s…that’s kind of a lot,” Kazuma rasped, his head spinning slightly.

She nodded. “Say it.”

“Uh, I don’t want to-”

“Say it, Kazuma. Kirayama,” Lolisa urged.

Licking his lips, Kazuma thought about it for several moments, but Lolisa’s expression was earnest. Finally, he reached out, taking her hand in his. “Alright. Thanks for trusting me, Kirayama.”

Lolisa let out a small gasp as Kazuma said her name, and he felt a magical color to the name even as he said it. He jerked back, trying to let go of Lolisa’s hand, but she gripped it tightly. 

“Now you know who I am. What I am, Kazuma Sato. But don’t forget, I know your true name too,” Lolisa said quietly.

That made Kazuma’s mouth go dry. “Could you…with my name…?”

“No. It doesn’t work like that for mortals. There are some things I could do, having your true name from your own lips, but not as much as you’re thinking. At most, I could use it to find you, and enter into your dreams,” Lolisa told him.

“Uh, that doesn’t sound so bad…”

“Except succubi usually sneak into men’s dreams in order to feed on them, and get them to betray their deepest, darkest secrets,” Lolisa sighed, and then closed her eyes, leaning her head on Kazuma’s shoulder. He sat back against the lamppost, eyeing her. 

Then he said, “I had a sister named Lia.”

“Hmm?” Lolisa opened her eyes, tilting her head up to look at him.

Kazuma fidgeted, looking away, unable to meet her gaze, but still holding on to her hand. “She was six years younger than me. My adorable kid sister. I doted on her endlessly. My parents too. She was the joy of our family.”

Listening, Lolisa didn’t say anything, but she did squeeze Kazuma’s hand as his pain poured out of him. 

“I looked after her, you know? I wasn’t strong or smart or fast, but I could make her laugh, make her smile, even when things were miserable. When I’d con someone, before I’d use the credits to buy porn or booze or a new game, I’d make sure to get Lia some candy or clothes or food, whatever she needed. Shit, I even went without. She hated that I got it from gambling or conning people, so did my parents. They were honest, hard-working, and…”

He swallowed, then mumbled, “And rebels.”

Lolisa let out an involuntary gasp, and Kazuma jerked a nod. “They were one of those crazy revolutionary types who wanted to destroy capitalism or some such bullshit. Said our family was descended from heroes who’d fought for freedom, that we were Japanese, and we were from another world. That we would save this one. I thought it was bedtime story bullshit, like the tooth fairy or something. A story you told an idiot kid. Lia believed it though.”

Tears trickled down Kazuma’s face as the memories returned, but he made himself continue. “One day, I was out with some friends, getting high, gambling, the usual. I got a message from Lia that our parents hadn’t come home. I brushed it off, told her I’d be back soon. Then…then I got a message from her that someone was breaking in.”

Kazuma slammed his fist into the ground, and the pain was almost a comfort, better than the agony he felt inside as he gritted his teeth and the hot tears came against his will. “I was too stoned to get home fast enough. By the time I got there…the place was swarming with blackhats. I was scared, and I hid. I saw…I saw them pull my little sister out of the house and put her in a van. I think she was already dead. She was limp, anyway. Then they packed her up and took off.”

“You know what I did? I went back and got completely wasted. I was sick with self-pity. There wasn’t shit I could do and I knew it. I couldn’t go back to our apartment. They’d be watching for me. So, I ran. My parents had a stash of stuff, some real valuable weapons and supplies. I sold it all on the black market, and then, I bought a ticket to Discord. I told myself I was going to get my sister back, to get revenge after striking it rich…but what did I do? Fucking worked for Sylvia. Shit, I don’t even know who’s blackhats it was that took her. Could have been any. We were in Cat’s Eye Group turf at the time, had been most of our lives. Maybe it was them. Who the fuck knows.”

Kazuma finished his story and looked at his hand. It was bloody and bruised, and he didn’t care. He deserved it. 

Gently, Lolisa took his battered hand and wrapped it in a bandage. She didn’t say anything as she worked, and Kazuma was grateful for it. 

“There. Now you know, if one of us is a selfish, evil prick…it’s me. Not you,” Kazuma told her bitterly, examining his empty, useless hands.

Folding Kazuma’s hands into hers, Lolisa gave them a squeeze. “Your parents were right.”

“Yeah, I always was a useless, worthless son,” Kazuma agreed bitterly. 

“No. Not about that. They were wrong about that. You are a hero, Kazuma. Your ancestors were Japanese, brought to this world by the gods to help save it,” Lolisa told him, giving him a cautious smile. 

Kazuma waited for her to laugh, and point out it was a joke, but she didn’t. He turned his head away. “Some hero I turned out to be.”

“Yes.” Lolisa moved her head into Kazuma’s field of vision, her expression now stern. “You rescued Iris. Fought through a nightmare jungle few could survive. Defied the Flesh Shaper herself. Traveled through the endless dark to return the rightful queen to her domain. Then, you fought and defeated the Deathless General himself. You are a hero, Kazuma.”

“I didn’t defeat Beldia, that was you, Cecily, and Iris,” Kazuma mumbled, his heart thudding in his chest. 

“And it was your plan that did all that. Not even Iris could defeat Beldia one on one. You are a hero, Kazuma. But…I’m sorry about your sister. There was nothing you could have done.”

“I should have done something,” Kazuma said bitterly. 

“We all make mistakes,” Lolisa told him, then stood, pulling Kazuma up to his feet. “Ready?”

Sighing, Kazuma nodded, and they trotted off in the direction the others had gone.