I am Succubus!
Chapter 263

Not good! I might have encountered someone I shouldn't. Someone that might screw up this timeline even more. Although, getting a good look at Hatsumi as a succubus again… she was kind of hot. But the look in my sister's eyes was that of hunger and delirium. She wasn't the Hatsumi I knew. This one was more obsessed than ever. Becoming a succubus only made those feelings for me even worse.

If we stayed here, I dreaded what would happen. One thing was for sure: Hatsumi couldn't be allowed to capture us.

"You finally showed yourself to me again! It must be because you've missed me, too. Of course, you did! We're fated to be together. I love you so much that any second away from you is agonizing. When I finally transform you back into a boy, we can have our wedding at long last! Where do you want to go for our honeymoon? Okinawa? Hawaii? Paris? Maybe we'll keep it simple and book a hot spring resort somewhere in Hokkaido! I want to have sex with you so, so, so much!" Hatsumi screamed deliriously.

I couldn't believe my ears, let alone what I was seeing. Was Hatsumi always this unhinged? I knew she was obsessed with me, but this was on a different level entirely!

Panic washed over me. I felt fear in the auras from other succubi around us. They were afraid to go against Hatsumi. So, she was strong enough to back up her rule as queen. The Blade of the First Temptress looked right at home in her hands. She wielded the sword like it was meant for her and her only.

Beatrice watched on with envy, rage, and trepidation. She couldn't make it any more obvious about wanting the sword back.

"S-Saeko, whaddya we do? I think it's about time we skedaddle!" Hana whispered.

"You know those gimmicks you like to pull? Please, tell me you have something in your bag of tricks to save us right now," I pleaded.

"Uwah-ha-ha! At last, you have opened your eyes to the dark side? I'm always being underestimated, but now? No longer! I got a riddle for you all— what do you call a monkey without arms?" she asked, opening several portals and reaching into them with her dryad tentacles.

The succubi on Hatsumi's side went on guard. 

"Hana, you may be Saeko's friend, but I won't show mercy on you. We've fought before, and your tricks won't be enough to defeat me." Hatsumi brandished the blade in a defensive motion.

"You're supposed to answer!" Hana pouted. "I'll tell ya. There actually isn't an answer to the riddle. Teehee! I just wanted to buy time before I throw enchanted dildos at you. ATTACK!"

Dryad tentacles flung an absurd amount of vibrating dildos out. They showered Hatsumi and the succubi, searching for holes to burrow into.

"What the fuck is this?"

"I swear to god, Hana!"

"Help! It's trying to get into my nose!"

"We're leaving. Now!" I yelled.

The four of us and Beatrice fled as fast as we could. Our wings never beat faster. My eyes stung from the dry winds. As long as Hatsumi's aura was within detection radius, we weren't going to escape her.

My entire body shuddered and cringed in a bad way. A voice filled with panic echoed through my mind.

"Saeko, the timeline has become far too unstable. I'm doing everything in my power to keep the tension still, but it continues to pull taut! I must pull you out," Gerdell insisted into my thoughts.

"No, just give me a little bit more time!" I implored her.

"Listen, I'll provide you my assistance for whatever it is you need. Consider this a miscalculation on my part for sending you into such a tenuous timeline. The four of you may very well be stuck there forever. You have to leave," she urged.

"I'm doing this for more than just your end of the deal… I have to. I refuse to let this world get more messed up than it already is. I'm begging you. Just give me another… three hours. No, two! Two hours to fix the temporal anomaly!"

The silence felt like it lasted forever. Eventually, Gerdell sighed deeply.

"Very well. Two hours. Not a second later, and not a second sooner. I pray you succeed," Gerdell said before her presence vanished.

For all my grandstanding, I was still no closer to figuring out what the temporal anomaly was. This world might very well be doomed.Who was it? Where was it?

If only I was—

"It's Saeko!" I exclaimed aloud.

Everyone turned to me.

"Did you figure something out?" Hana asked.

This whole time I've been overthinking it. Thought it had to be something or someone else. But it's Saeko. There's no way Saeko would ever let this be, not after everything she went through after becoming a succubus. Never in a million— a billion years would I, or any other Saeko, just sit around and do nothing while everything goes to crap, especially if it involves Hatsumi. Saeko's inaction has to be the temporal anomaly," I explained.

"We assume you're correct that it is Saeko. But everyone we've come across has suggested that she is in hiding. Hiding well enough to escape the prying eyes of Hatsumi, hundreds of succubi, and millions of charmed humans. Where can we even hope to find her?" Shayle sounded just as desperate as me.

Suddenly, all my gusto vanished. Layla and I had been flying all over the place earlier, too. As greater succubi, the two of us had the best chance of sensing her aura. Except we didn't. We didn't know where she was. But Beatrice did, and the four of us looked right at her.

"What?" Beatrice cocked her head.

"You know Saeko's whereabouts. It's time to talk," Shayle demanded.

"Psh. A dark elf making demands of me? I should charm you into letting dogs fuck you. The answer is no. I won't be revealing our hideout. Mio is there, too. If you haven't noticed, Hatsumi is on this Saeko's scent. I show you where Saeko is, then we'll be leading them straight there. It isn't happening," she said firmly.

"If we don't do anything, you'll be putting Mio in even worse danger!" I exclaimed. "I know myself better than anyone. I can convince Saeko to get off her ass. She can take Hatsumi. Believe me!"

Beatrice appeared unconvinced. 

All of us shuddered Hatsumi's aura scraping against us. She and numerous other lesser succubi were on their way. Selene, too. It was going to turn into another fight, and we weren't going to escape her this time. If that happened, this timeline was doomed and so were we.

I flew in front of Beatrice to stop her in one final desperate plea. My words were all I had left. Without the Blade of the First Temptress, I was only a fraction as strong as I used to be. Without Yumi, Mio, Selene, and every loyal succubi supporting me, I didn't have the force to back me up. It all came down to Beatrice.

"Both of us love Mio. Isn't she all that matters here? You don't have the Demon King breathing down your necks. You came to this world to start a new life. The Beatrice I knew regretted not spending more time with Mio. If this keeps up and Hatsumi gets her way, it's over for everyone," I explained.

"Huh. I hated Saeko. But you're different. Maybe I can believe we could have gotten along. Saeko and Mio are on a boat just off Tanga Island directly south of here," Beatrice said at last.

A heavy weight lifted off my shoulders. I didn't sense any lie in it, but this was Beatrice. With little other choice left, we had no choice but to believe her anyway.

"Okay, let's go. Maybe we can outfly them. Or lose them in the forest somewhere," I suggested.

"No. You four go on ahead." Beatrice unfurled her wings and lifted off.

"Wait, you're not coming with us?"

"They're already on our tails, and there's too many of them. We aren't going to lose them. But I can slow them down enough for you to escape the range of their auras. I'm not going to risk leading them back to Mio. Do you hear me? Now get going before I change my mind. You won't want to be here when I ruin your bitch sister's face," she growled.

Maybe I had the wrong idea of Beatrice after all. As we veered south, I glanced back at the former queen succubus. She was nothing like the Beatrice I came to know. But at the end of the day, she was still Mio's sister.

The farther we flew away, the closer the swarm of succubi closed in on Beatrice. Soon, magical explosions rocked the entire city. Everything went up in smoke. Her familiar, deranged cackling echoed across the sky. I sensed a furious emotion well up in Hatsumi's aura before we were too far from each other. 

Now that we weren't being pursued anymore, this made going straight to Saeko a breeze and risk free. The last thing I wanted was to accidentally put someone in danger… especially Mio.

I shuddered at the sight of naval ships in the distance forming a sort of blockade. A line of ships at Akashi in the east and another at Ako in the west. The JSDF were probably hesitating. I totally understood. I'd rather not imagine Hatsumi and a bunch of succubi mind-controlling an entire military force. Guns, magic, or else, that couldn't possibly turn out well for anyone.

Tanga Island was coming within sight. It was a small island. Not much to write home about. The tiny chunk of land had roads along the coast and ships that anchored off its coast, but the population that lived there was few. Boats large and small were at the mercy to the ocean. Fortunately for them, the weather was calm today.

I motioned for Hana and Shayle to stay put again, and suggested that they keep a lookout for succubi coming from the mainland. Layla and I reined in our auras, then cast invisibility on ourselves. There were many boats around, so we needed to check every single one. The largest ones were as big as yachts, and the smallest were ski boats. Chances were, they came out here to escape the succubi menace.

As we searched, my stomach knotted out of nervousness. What was I going to say to Saeko? Was the world going to go tits up because I met myself in another timeline? Gerdell would have stopped me already if that was true.

Next came the self-doubt. Failing to convince Saeko was the worst case scenario. Or if she turned out not to be the temporal anomaly. No, I shouldn't think that way. I knew myself better than anyone. For how timid, introverted, and meek I was, hiding from Hatsumi would be the last thing I'd choose to do.

"Saeko, I found you! I mean her," Layla corrected herself and tugged on my sleeve.

I gulped hard. But the fate of this world rested on Saeko's shoulders. Layla led me to a small yacht. Right away, I felt the aura of two succubi, one I knew belonged to Mio and the other I'd never felt before. It was my own. If we were this close to each other, then she likely sensed me, too.

There didn't appear to be any other succubus around. Maybe the Yumi and Hana of this world were hiding elsewhere. Since neither of us had any reason to hide, we dropped our invisibility and landed on the yacht. It rocked only a little from our added weight, then settled down soon after.

We took the small stairwell leading into the ship's interior and stopped in front of a door. I swallowed my hesitation before knocking.

"You two are greater succubi?" My own voice gasped. "You're not Beatrice or Selene. Hatsumi sent you, didn't she? I guess it was a matter of time… I'll come out. I won't even put up a fight, so please… don't hurt Mio."

"We're not with Hatsumi. We're also not here for Mio," I said.

"Why do you sound so— It can't be…"

The door swung open. I came faced with my own face. Saeko Ito. Me. But this Saeko looked a lot more feeble. A gentle wind would blow her off her feet. In fact, it might as well have. She staggered back a little. Her hand found purchase on the wall, and she stared wide-eyed in shock at me. In her other hand, she was holding a carton of orange juice and accidentally squished some out.

"This is a trick, isn't it? Succubi and magic exist. One of Hatsumi's minions probably conjured an illusory lookalike to mess with me!" Saeko exclaimed with magic bristling in her hands.

"It's not a trick. This is a long shot, but… As kids, you and Kana were sitting under a dome in the playground. After we saw a passing couple kiss, we, uhm… We… tried kissing…" I said, not realizing just how embarrassing that memory was.

When I got back to my own timeline, I needed to hit Kana. Come to think of it, he probably liked me romantically as far as back then and did that on purpose.

"H-H-How do you know that? We promised never to bring that memory back up ever again!" Saeko cried.

"That's because only Saeko and Kana would ever know. Well, Layla now, too, but she isn't important." I thumbed over to my partner.

"Uu… being described as not important by Saeko… isn't such a bad feeling hehe…" Layla fidgeted.

"But why are you here? How?" she asked.

I chose my words carefully. Saeko definitely couldn't know about Gerdell, the chronomancer, especially since there was a chance of them meeting in the future. Instead, I gave her a bullshit spiel about jumping between worlds with Shayle's mirror artifact.

Fortunately, Saeko accepted that. Hard to believe I used to be this naive, but we were slightly different from each other.

"Listen, why I'm here isn't important. After seeing the state of your world, I came to ask why you are hiding from Hatsumi? You should be out there, confronting her face to face. Instead, you're hiding in a boat miles from mainland… drinking orange juice!" I scolded her.

"I can't face Hatsumi… If you're really me and not some imposter, then you should know how suffocating and oppressive she can be! Of course, I love my sister. I love Mio, too. If I go back, what happens if I lose? I won't be able to protect Mio anymore," Saeko explained dejectedly.

"Are you protecting her right now? Or are you just using that as an excuse? Because we're the same person, I know how bad Hatsumi can be. I also know how good she can be, too. But you won't get through to her here, will you?"

Saeko squeezed her hands together and frowned. 

"I-I… I don't know… Maybe you can fight Hatsumi for me?" Saeko muttered and avoided looking me in the eyes.

How much younger was this Saeko? Was this timeline not long after Hatsumi's transformation? It hurt me to know I used to be this timid and indecisive. That wasn't quite true. Even now, I was still that way. All of her weaknesses were my own.

I entered the room and planted both hands on Saeko's shoulders. She flinched to my touch. It took me lifting her face in order for us to look each other in the eyes. They were full of fear and hesitation…

"Hatsumi found us earlier," I began with a heavy sigh. "We were with Beatrice. She stayed behind to buy us time to get to you. I convinced her to give us the location, because I believed— I know you're capable of getting through to Hatsumi. Can you believe it though? That Beatrice risking her life like that?"

Saeko gasped. She was certainly shocked to hear it. Her eyes wandered back into the yacht's bedroom. I caught sight of Mio's arm.

"Can I see her?" I asked.

Seconds felt like an eternity, but Saeko eventually let us inside. I entered and found Mio lying on the bottom bunk of the bed. Both hands rested atop her chest. She breathed rhythmically and quietly. Seeing Mio in this state made me seriously consider facing Hatsumi myself, but that wouldn't fix Saeko, the temporal anomaly.

Empty cup ramen sat on the counter across the room. Dirty sheets and clothes were piled up in the corner. They had been subsisting here.

"I can't fight your battles for you. Hatsumi might have the blade, but you never needed it. I would know. All you need are your friends, and a serious one on one talk with our sis. Don't you think it's about time you put your foot down on how you want to live your life?" I asked.

"I do, but Hatsumi is too—"

"No more 'buts'. Stop making excuses for yourself! If we're the same Saeko, we made the decision to join the kendo club. We chose Mio because we love her. We vowed to stay as a succubus since this is the life we wanted. Isn't that right?"

"Yeah… It is!" Saeko clenched both fists and looked me dead in the eyes. "Why? Why have I been hiding here all this time? You're right. This isn't like me. I have things I want. I'm my own adult. I need to give Hatsumi a piece of my mind!"

Saeko raced up to the door and stopped just outside. She returned to Mio, kissed her on the forehead, then nodded to me. I nodded back. With that encouragement on her back, she darted outside and unfurled her wings to fly to Tsukiji.

"Your Saeko is a handful." I sighed and kneeled down to squeeze Mio's hand.

Hopefully, I made the right choice and didn't just send Saeko to be transformed back into a boy, then be made a sex slave out of by Hatsumi. Oh, crap… Why did that have to sound like such a nice time? 

Worry began to bite at the back of my mind. If Saeko wasn't the temporal anomaly, we were screwed.

"Saeko," Layla began from behind me with a smile, "I think that was a wonderful speech you gave just now."

"Thanks," I said, feeling a little lighter than before.

"Nngh… Saeko…" Mio stirred and her eyelids fluttered.

My succubus girlfriend from another timeline was about to wake up until a powerful magical force yanked me backwards.

Layla, Hana, Shayle, and I fell into a pile on top of each other. Luckily for me, I was at the very top. Hana got herself buried under a mountain of boobs. We were in the time chamber again. Gerdell stood over us, demeanor awash with relief.

"Goodness gracious, what a reckless bunch you all are. Had you failed, that entire timeline would have collapsed with you in it. But you didn't fail. You saved billions of lives, and trillions that will come after them. Good work, you four. And Saeko, I'll gladly aid you with my powers." Gerdell helped us up.

"I think the last timeline curbed my horniness plenty." I sighed.