The Last Drop of Hope, Chapter 25 (Patreon)

Dragging himself down the hallway, Kazuma let out a groan. “Why do we always have to do things so damn early? We could just as easily leave at noon as the crack of dawn…”

“So we can ambush the sluggards and kill them before they know what hit them!”

Kazuma jumped about three feet up in the air when a giant dark blade appeared before him with a soft pop. He ended up falling back on his ass, as a grinning Megumin materialized, her stupidly big sword held out to bar Kazuma’s way.

“Don’t do that! You’ll give me a heart attack!” Kazuma complained, shakily pulling himself to his feet.

Rolling her eyes, Megumin sheathed the sword in the baldric on her back and turned around. “Come on, we were getting impatient so I came to find you. At least you’re out of bed.”

“We said we weren’t leaving until dawn! It’s barely 6am! Reasonable people aren’t even up this early!” Kazuma complained, his longer legs easily catching up to Megumin, who came up only to his chin.

“Are you implying that I am not a reasonable person?” Megumin demanded, her red eyes flashing slightly in the still dim light of the halls.

“I would never dream of implying that someone with a sword bigger than I am is unreasonable,” Kazuma said seriously, which made Megumin smirk. “But I would think it very loudly.”

Megumin tried to glare at Kazuma, but she was fighting back a smirk. Eventually, she let out a snort and turned to face forward again. “Come. We have a long way to go to get to Spoke.”

They ended up making their way to one of the lower levels of the administrative building turned royal residence, all the way down to the train station. Unlike most stations Kazuma had been in, this one was brightly polished with no grime or stained concrete, instead made of polished tile and clean steel, with comfortable padded chairs, and functional screens that would have shown arrival and departure times.

However, the display indicated no trains were running at the moment, so Kazuma was a little puzzled. Not having bothered to work out exactly how they would get to Spoke, Kazuma had just assumed they’d ride the train. It was just over 100km to the city, so while it wasn’t impossibly far, walking seemed a bit much.

Waiting for them, Kazuma was pleased to not just see Yunyun, Komekko, and Lolisa, but also Iris and Wiz. He grinned, sneaking up behind Iris who was deep in conversation with Wiz about something or other, and mussed her hair. This prompted a squawk of outrage from the Queen. “Hey, little sis. Come to see your big brother off?”

“Kazuma! Just because I cut my hair doesn’t mean you can just mess it up!” Iris protested, but she smiled up at him. Today, she was dressed in a simple but elegant white dress, a purple grape ornament in her boyishly short hair. She still had that machete strapped to her hip, though Kazuma was pretty sure she could take out anything short of a hover tank with her bare hands.

“Eh, the short hair makes you look extra adorable, like a tomboy,” Kazuma assured Iris. He looked to Wiz and gave her a thumbs up. “I’m counting on you to beat back all the boys from her, with a stick if necessary!”

“I’ll keep an eye on her Majesty, don’t worry,” Wiz assured Kazuma, prompting a giggle from Iris.

“I can take care of myself, Prince Kazuma. Maybe I should tell Lolisa and Megumin to guard your chastity while you’re out of my sight,” Iris harrumphed.

Kazuma furrowed his brow in mock confusion. “What, this isn’t supposed to be my battle harem? And here I thought my sister was trying to set me- OW! MEGUMIN! I WAS KIDDING!”

“Hmph. Komekko is not a member of any ‘harem,’ nor are Yunyun and I,” Megumin sniffed, withdrawing Gram from where she had used the flat of the blade to wack Kazuma’s backside.

“I thought the point of a battle was to harm ‘em,” Komekko said, tilting her head to one side cutely.

“Oh come on! Komekko is obviously the other adorable little imouto type, not an actual route!” Kazuma protested.

Lolisa groaned and put her hands in her face, her wings folding up and her tail curling behind her. “Kazuma, maybe you shouldn’t be using H-Game terminology to refer to our group…”

“Kazuma…” Iris said, her tone warning.

“What’s an H-Game?” Yunyun asked, looking worried. “Is it something outsiders do?”

“It’s, uh, a Happy Game. You know, where you make friends and stuff,” Kazuma said, blushing slightly.

“Uh huh,” Megumin said, giving Kazuma a disgusted look. She then put a fist to her mouth and coughed, though it sounded a lot like “pervert” when she did it.

“Please, watch out for yourself, Kazuma,” Iris told Kazuma, giving him a hug. “And try to bring honor to your name…”

“Ah, relax. We’ll get Spoke on our side, no problem! I mean, all we have to do is say ‘free food’ and they’ll be lining up to join us, right?” Kazuma said with a shrug.

Iris pursed her lips, but nodded. “That is a powerful card to play. But be wary: There are those that would seek to exploit this situation for their gain. And Kazuma?”

“Yeah?”

“Just because one demoness has proven herself trustworthy does not mean the others are. Be cautious. Be very cautious. I truly believe that Lolisa is worthy of our confidence, but the same cannot be said of her sisters. Do not make the mistake of thinking that simply because they are beautiful that they are also good.”

“Uh, yeah, I’ve met Sylvia,” Kazuma pointed out, giving Iris a lopsided smile.

“I suppose you have,” she agreed, and gave Kazuma a hug. “Be safe, and return soon with more allies.”

“You got it, sis,” Kazuma promised, giving Iris a squeeze. When she pulled back, he winked and gave her a thumbs up. “We’ll knock this one out of the park, no problem!”

With that, he turned to the Crimson Demon sisters and Lolisa, who were standing a few feet away. “Well, let’s get this show on the road. Where’s our ride?”

“Oh, we’re walking, didn’t you know?” Megumin said. “Hope you brought a good pair of shoes.”

“Uh, seriously? That’ll take a week!” Kazuma protested. “We don’t have time for that!”

Yunyun winced and shook her head. “Um, M-Megumin is kidding. B-but we’re not taking the main line. Come on, they’ve already got it s-set up for us.”

Megumin led the way to a service door, then down a set of stairs and through several narrow passages to a service tunnel. There, they found a secondary, smaller rail line with a single car. Unlike the others that were powered by electrical lines running down the railway, this one had an onboard engine and fuel cell. It was big enough for all five of them and the gear that had been prepared, though it would be a tight fit.

“It’s not real fast, but it’s quiet and the maintenance tunnels are harder to get to and less likely to be watched,” Megumin said, climbing aboard and putting herself at the control panel. “Get in, let’s get moving.”

Kazuma complied, sitting at the back and kicking his feet up against the wall, leaning back and putting a fist to his mouth with a yawn. “Sure thing. Probably be what, two, three hours to Spoke? Time enough for a nap.”

“Are you dumb? ‘Cause you say dumb stuff,” Komekko told him, perching on the bench next to Kazuma and earning a glare from him.

“The route ahead is clear for some way, b-but we should remain alert. There’s been f-fighting in the tunnels,” Yunyun told Kazuma.

He shrugged. “I got a skill called ‘Detect Foe.’ It’ll let me know if anything nasty is headed our way with plenty of time. Even wakes you up from a nap.”

“Well, I’m gonna send Mr. Hoost out to watch for us. Wakey, Wakey, Mr. Hoost!” Komekko said, pulling out a handful of corn from her smock along with a dark iridescent feather.

“CAW! HERE I COME, BOSS!” The feather exploded into a large black raven, which then perched on Komekko’s head and pecked at the grain.

“Go fly through the tunnel and make sure there’s no bad guys, OK?” Komekko said, pointing down the tunnel as Megumin started up the car.

Hoost looked up from his meal, then flinched. “Uh, no offense boss, but I think you’ve got me mixed up with a bat. I don’t do small tunnels and dark places so good. The open skies for me!”

“Open skies got anti-air defenses and stuff. It’s safer in tunnels. Go on, I’ll give you lotsa corn when you come back!” Komekko promised.

Hoost sighed heavily, but jumped out one of the open windows, flapping his wings and heading down the narrow tunnel, which was only slightly larger than his wingspan. Seeing him leave, Megumin started up the quiet motor, and the car hissed down the tracks with a soft rumble.

Despite his claims of taking a nap, Kazuma sat up, peering down the tunnel behind him. Yunyun was standing up front with Megumin, peering into the darkness ahead. They had turned off almost all the lights, so that only the soft glow of the panel and the red emergency strips along the tunnel gave off any illumination at all. Komekko was kicking her legs and humming to herself, her red eyes glazed over. Kazuma suspected she was keeping watch through Hoost’s vision with some spell, and didn’t try to distract her.

That did leave him alone in the dark though, and he shivered. It was cool in the tunnel, and with the wind of the car rumbling along, he was slightly chilled.

“You don’t have dark vision, do you?”

Kazuma jumped slightly, then looked up to see Lolia’s pale face next to his. He reluctantly nodded, swallowing slightly. “Uh, no. Don’t have any augs like that, and I haven’t taken any skills that let me see in the dark yet.”

“Mmm. Baseline human, then,” Lolisa said. “Scoot over, ok?”

Kazuma obliged, and Lolisa sat next to him, so close their legs were touching. She shivered a little, and snuggled up to him. “I can see in the dark, but I don’t really like being alone. Not anymore. Not since…”

Her fingers twitched towards the back of her neck, and Kazuma glanced there, though between her high collared jacket and the darkness he couldn’t make out where he knew her chip was. “Uh, yeah. That sucks. It, er, happens to a lot of succubi, doesn’t it?”

She nodded, sniffling, her head resting on Kazuma’s shoulder. “Yeah. We make good… pleasure slaves.” Kazuma sensed her eyes darting toward Komekko, but the little girl didn’t seem to be paying attention to them. “I’m one of the lucky ones. Dust found me before they overrode my personality. A lot of my sisters… weren’t so lucky. They’re basically brain-dead. Dolls of living flesh. And it was Duke Vanir that sold us out.”

She sounded especially bitter, and Kazuma wasn’t sure what to do. Gingerly, he put an arm around Lolisa. He half expected her to jerk away, but instead, she wiggled under it as if to encourage him. “He, uh, he’s a demon too, right? I know all the CEOs are immortal or whatever, but I guess he’s from Hell or whatever too?”

“Yes. Many of us followed him willingly, as he promised an endless feast on mortal emotions,” Lolisa said bitterly. “I just… well, I was born in Hell, if you can call it being born. Succubi are born from feelings of Lust by the souls being tortured there, and I was no exception. For a long time… well, let’s just say… I understand why Aqua and Iris reacted the way they did to me… I’m not a good person, Kazuma.”

“You weren’t a good person, maybe. But you seem pretty alright now,” Kazuma said.

Lolisa flinched, and pulled away from Kazuma, turning her head from him. “Kazuma… I killed you.”

“I mean, that’s not really your fault,” Kazuma said, scooting away slightly to give Lolisa some space. “And you came through for us for real when we were fighting Belida. Saved all our asses.”

“Mmm.” Lolisa said with a slight shrug of her shoulders. “I would have been dead too…”

They sat in silence as the train hummed along for a while, the silence awkward between them. At least, Lolisa sighed and looked back at Kazuma. “Sorry. I just…I should keep my distance. You smell…so good. But…I don’t want you to just be a meal for me.”

“Uh, thanks? I mean, I think we’re friends and stuff,” Kazuma said, coughing slightly. Didn’t succubi feed by…? I mean, she had been really hungry last time. Maybe he should feed her just a little…

“I hope so,” Lolisa said, and white teeth flashed in the dark. Then she sighed and leaned back against Kazuma, her too hot skin feeling good on his. “I just… I wonder what life’s been like for my sisters.”

“You were close?” Kazuma guessed.

“Ha, no. I say sisters, but… we’re predators, Kazuma. Or more like scavengers, these days. The magic mostly went out of us, so we can’t properly feed. The hunger is mostly suppressed, but it’s still there. Like an itch you can never scratch. Sure, succubi still flock together in a coven, but we’re competing for men to feed on.”

“Just men?” Kazuma blurted. He blushed, scratching the back of his head. “I mean, just wondering…”

“We can feed off women, yes, but the incubi are our male counterparts and they mostly go for the ladies. Straight women don’t taste right to me, and gay women… well, they’re alright, but not as satisfying. N-not that I’m going to eat any people! I’m putting that behind me…”

“I mean, you still have to eat, right?” Kazuma asked, feeling confused about the whole situation.

“Honestly? I don’t know,” Lolisa admitted, her hand gripping Kazuma’s and pulling it to her shoulder. “I learned to eat mortal food a long time ago. But I can’t restore my mana naturally. I’m still mostly topped off from what happened with you, but…”

“But?” Kazuma prompted.

“...but, I don’t know,” Lolisa said, sounding frustrated. “I like you, Kazuma. And not like in a ‘you would make a tasty meal’ sort of way, only, that too? I don't know. You’re… you’re a lot like Dust.”

“A total moron?” Kazuma said, sounding more bitter than he’d meant.

Lolisa giggled. “In some ways. I just mean… you care. You’re a good person. Not as innocent as Dust, maybe. Well, maybe in some ways. He has been with Rin.”

Kazuma’s ears felt like they’d catch on fire. “I-I’ve had girlfriends before!”

“Kazuma.” Lolisa sat up and poked her head around to look him in the eyes. Even with the dimness, he could make out her amused expression. “I’m a succubus. I can smell a virgin. I could tell that wasn’t your first kiss, but it was pretty close. Exactly how many girls have you kissed, anyway?”

“None,” Kazuma muttered, shifting away from Lolisa.

She blinked, then jerked back. “Oh my Lucifer, I thought for sure you weren’t gay!”

“I’m not!” Kazuma snapped, shifting to his back to Lolisa. “I just… Sylvia was the only person aside from my mom I’d ever kissed, and they’re not really a girl.”

“Oh! Oh, Kazuma… I’m so sorry,” Lolisa put a gentle hand on his shoulder. “That’s… horrible.”

“Yeah, well, I’m sure you’ve been with a million guys,” Kazuma grumbled, trying to wrench his shoulder away.

Lolisa removed her hand, but said gently, “Kazuma… I mean… Sylvia basically violated you. They stole something precious. And… and I’m just a cheap whore who stole a kiss…”

“You’re not a whore, and I gave you that kiss,” Kazuma said, turning his head back around. “You’re a friend. And I’d do it again. Uh, as long as Aqua’s close by…”

Lolisa giggled at that and nodded. “I’ll make sure to wait until that happens. I can usually control myself better than that. I, um, won’t get into it, but… normally it takes more than just a kiss to kill a man. I was just… very hungry.”

“Uh, yeah,” Kazuma agreed, fidgeting.

They sat in silence again for a while, until Kazuma coughed. “So, the mission. Uh, how should we approach the succubi? I mean, you’re pretty powerful, and, well, you’ve all had a rough deal. They should be eager to switch sides, right?”

“Probably not, actually,” Lolisa sighed, slumping and resting her elbows on her knees and putting her head in her hands, her wings dropping down into her hair. “Aqua’s a goddess. Our natural enemy. And as bad as life is here, especially with the risk of getting chipped… Kazuma, it would honestly be better for me to end up as a brainless sex doll than to go back to Hell.”

“What, it’s worse than here? This basically is Hell, or it was before Aqua and Iris showed up. At least Hell is warm, right?” he shivered for emphasis, trying to chuckle at the end.

“No.” Lolisa sat up, resting her hands on her knees. “Kazuma. Imagine a time when you were in pain. All over your body. Not so bad you’d pass out, but bad enough you struggle to breathe.”

“Uh, I can imagine,” Kazuma said, thinking back to when he’d been in the hospital and hurting all over.

“Alright. Now imagine that nothing can take that pain away. And you’re hungry, all the time. Thirsty too. And there’s a constant, obnoxious ringing in your ears. And the only relief you can get is to inflict more pain on someone else. It doesn’t make you actually feel better, it just gives you some spiteful satisfaction, just for a split second. You can’t ever rest, either. You’re weak too, barely able to move. Maybe it’s too hot, maybe it’s too cold, either way, you're constantly suffering.”

“Uh, that sounds… pretty bad,” Kazuma admitted.

“Now imagine that being your ever waking moment of existence for the entire rest of time. And time has already been going on for oh, a couple billion years. And it’s got at least ten times that left.”

Kazuma felt sweat trickle down his brow, but he shivered anyway. “Er, Ok, I think I get the idea…”

“Nope. Because what I described? That would be a relief compared to Hell. And no, it’s not much better for us demons. We don’t suffer the same as mortals do I suppose, but it’s why demons will do basically anything to get to the mortal world. Why we followed Duke Vanir. And… and why we spread so much suffering. Because that’s all we are. Suffering.”

“I mean, you don’t seem so bad… honestly, you’re nicer than a lot of people I met,” Kazuma said, trying to reassure Lolisa.

“Because I learned how to fake it to lure in prey. To feign sweetness and innocence, so I could capture a mortal man. I was… well, I wasn’t the most skillful succubus. So I’d keep my men alive, for as long as I could. To feed on them, Kazuma.”

Lolisa clutched at herself, then got up and moved to sit with the supplies in the back. “Just…stay away from me. I can tell you want me, Kazuma. You’re wrong. You don’t want anything to do with me. Or any of my sisters. They’d suck you dry of mana and leave you a shrivel husk in a heartbeat. Because that’s what we do.”

“No, you don’t.” Deliberately, Kazuma moved over next to Lolisa, who started and flinched away. “Lolisa, that’s who you were. Not who you are.”

“Ever heard the story of the scorpion and the fox, Kazuma?” Lolisa asked, her voice very small as she huddled in on herself amongst the boxes of ration bars and weapons.

“Uh, yeah,” Kazuma admitted. “But you’re not-”

“I’m a scorpion, Kazuma. And you’re a fox. And… and I would hate myself even more than I already do if I killed you again. Please. Just…”

“I’m a bit of a toxic asshole myself,” Kazuma said stubbornly. He stuck out his hand. “Friends. Just… friends.”

Hesitantly, Lolisa took Kazuma’s hand. “Alright. Friends. But only friends, Kazuma.”

Kazuma nodded, grinning despite himself.

“Just… stay away from my sisters, alright?”

“Why, jealous?” Kazuma teased.

Lolisa moved so fast that Kazuma’s skills didn’t even have time to activate. She slapped him full across the face. “Wake up, Kazuma! This isn’t a game!”

With a huff, she stood up, stalking to the front of the small car, and spoke to Megumin and Yunyun. A moment later, they both went to sit down on the bench, even as Kazuma lay sprawled on the boxes. Lolisa remained at the controls, looking ahead into the darkness.

“Pervzuma,” Megumin told him.

“Kazutrash,” Komekko agreed, sniffing in disdain.

Yunyun, however, gave him a pitying look. “Um, I don’t know much about succubi…b-but I think you should listen to her, Kazuma. She’s trying to l-look out for you.”

“Yeah, fine,” Kazuma said with a sigh. He remained where he was, looking at the shadowy outline of Lolisa’s back, and remembering that kiss.

The train ride was, thankfully, rather uneventful. No one tried to attack them, and the biggest thing they saw were some lamprey bats, feeding on powerlines. They stayed away from the moving train car, especially with no active lights to attract them. That worked fine for Megumin, who naturally could see nearly perfectly in the dim light, just as good as she could as if it had been well lit.

They didn’t go all the way into Spoke, instead pulling off to a side junction just half a kilometer outside of the city limits. “Right, this is our stop. Come on, grab what you can. We’ll have to leave most of these supplies here. There’s a locker we can put things in, but the locks on it have been cut, so someone’s already raided this place.”

“Just stick it in, then put the cut locks on the floor. Hopefully no one will look,” Kazuma suggested. “Better than putting a lock on it and advertising that there’s something good inside.”

That was actually a halfway decent idea, and better than anything Megumin could come up with, so they did as Kazuma suggested. After that, Megumin, Yunyun, and Komekko put on a collection of face masks, goggles, and hoods. It wasn’t that unusual to see people walking around without their faces showing for a number of reasons, so it wasn’t that suspicious.

“Remember, as far as the people here are concerned, red eyes are still bounty targets and not welcome,” Megumin reminded Komekko. “We had a nice break in Axel, but this is the real world again.”

“And everyone is trying to kill us,” Komekko agreed. “So frag ‘em first!”

“You got it, kiddo,” Megumin agreed. She ruffled Komekko’s hair, then stood up and turned to Yunyun. “Keep the magic secret. Use a gun. You remember how to do that, right?”

Yunyun rolled her eyes, and held up a pistol. “I’m still a better shot that y-you are.”

That was only worthy of a derisive snort. Yunyun only beat Megumin at marksmanship half the time. Well, maybe more like 70% of the time. But she still beat Yunyun sometimes. She wasn’t that much better. “I’m sticking with Gram. Plenty of people walk around with melee weapons. We stick to the shadows and keep our ears open for now. No clue what kind of shitshow is going down here, but it’s sure to be bad.”

Everyone nodded, with even Kazuma not arguing with them too hard. They snuck out of the maintenance tunnel, then out into the main train tunnel. This part was dangerous if there were trains running, but Megumin was fairly confident there were not. Besides, she could probably just chop a train in half if one did come at them. Either way, they sent Hoost ahead to scout, just in case.

They hadn’t gone too far when Komekko tugged on Megumin’s jacket. “Mr. Hoost says there’s a train up ahead with a bunch of people.”

“What?! Shit, everyone, back to the-”

“No, it’s stopped. It’s not moving,” Komekko whispered. “They got a barrel with a fire in it and are cookin’...” Komekko wrinkled her nose. “Um, I think it’s people.”

“Oh.” Megumin considered that for a moment, then drew Gram. “Well, that makes it easy. Plan Alpha.”

“Uh, what’s plan Alpha?” Kazuma asked, raising his hand, and Lolisa nodded, looking worried as she clutched at her rifle.

“They can’t report you if they’re all dead,” Yunyun said softly, flicking the safety off of her pistol.

The Cannibal Car had about a dozen people of various races, and as they drew closer, Megumin smelled the sweet odor of roasting meat. She’d smelled before often enough to know it was the real thing, and the only way someone down here got real meat that smelled that good was if they were man-eaters.

“Komekko, can you sneak around to the other side?” Megumin asked quietly while they were still safely in the shadows. Like most idiots, these people had put out lights around their little fort, which meant that they were completely blind beyond the pools of light.

“Mmm,” Komekko looked up at the ceiling, squinting. “Can you boost me up there?”

“Sure,” Kazuma said, and scooped Komekko up before Megumin could react, putting her on his shoulders, then standing her up on his hands. From there, Komekko managed to jump high enough to grab a dangling cable, then shimmied up it. “Ok! I’ll shoot the ones that try to run away!”

Then she scurried off along the overhead beam, silent as a mouse.

“Sheesh. She’s almost as scary as Iris,” Kazuma muttered, shaking his head. “My little sisters are too OP.”

“She’s our little sister, not yours,” Megumin told Kazuma flatly, but he just shrugged.

She gave Komekko two minutes, then nodded to Yunyun. “Right. When you’re ready.”

“Alright,” Kazuma said. “So how do we-”

Yunyun fired three times, and the three cannibals around the burning barrel where they were roasting their meat dropped dead. Megumin flash stepped to the car, then created an opening through the expedient of carving one with Gram. Inside, she found ten more cannibals rousing themselves from the gunshots. Gram wasn’t the best for close work, but Megumin charged through the cart, swift darting movement of her blade. She didn’t kill them all instantly, there wasn’t space for decapitations, but they’d all bleed out in moments, and she dropped two grenades as she dashed out of the car, which exploded behind her.

There was a bark of gunfire ahead, and she saw two more cannibals drop dead. A moment later, Komekko dropped down ahead of her, and waved. “All dead!”

“Good,” Megumin said with a grunt. She turned to see Kazuma and Lolisa trot up, Yunyun walking slowly behind them, her gun held up and ready as she calmly examined the darkness. “Anything on that skill of yours, Kazuma?”

“Uh, no. That was… pretty brutal,” Kazuma said, glancing at the spreading pool of blood from the dead cannibals Yunyun had dropped.

“Gee. It’s almost like we’re Crimson Demons,” Megumin said, and put that little something extra into her smile that she knew made her eyes glow. Kazuma swallowed in a most satisfying manner, but Lolisa only nodded.

“I’m just glad I’m on your side this time. You always were the most terrifying of the goddesses’ forces.”

That made Megumin blush slightly. “Yeah, well, don’t forget it.”

She wiped Gram off with a rag, not the cannibal’s clothing, she didn’t want to touch them, then turned and clambered up atop the train car. “Come on. We’ll take the upper path now. That was a lot of noise, and it travels pretty damn far down here.”

They managed to all get into another maintenance walkway, then into a side passage. A short time later, they found their way up onto the surface. The sooty sky was dim and gray, which meant it was daytime, but the city itself was mostly dark, save for a few pinpricks of electric lights.

“Welcome to Spoke,” Megumin said, nodding to the city.

“It’s too dark,” Kazuma said with a frown as he looked up at the buildings around them. “Something’s not right.”

That got a dark chuckle from Megumin. “Kazuma, we’re on Belzerg. Nothing is ever right here.”