Rosa looked at Verdé. "What happened to you?"
"Playtime with some bedmistresses from the Palace of Infernal and Iniquitous Pleasures," Verdé said.
Rosa raised an eyebrow at Verdé before continuing on with her introduction of the armoured daemon standing at her side.
"Anyway, I found someone. Valkarykarynarökris Helvargan will give our novice his final—"
The armoured daemon, Valkarykarynarökris, stared at Phil with piercing blue eyes. Her gaze was so intense Phil had the uncomfortable feeling she was stripping the skin, flesh and bone away to stare right through to what lay beneath.
"It is not necessary," Valkarykarynarökris said, cutting Rosa off mid-sentence.
Then she turned on her heels and left the room through the portal Cέrμləa had created, leaving two speechless succubi and a baffled Phil behind.
"My, how rude," Verdé said.
"That's pride daemons for you," Rosa said. "No wonder no-one likes them."
She looked at Phil.
"Do you think it counts?" she asked Verdé.
"I think so," Verdé said. "Is that all of them now?"
"Hmm, let me see," Rosa said. "Carnivrillarofax... Mr G... Ûmūn Šag..." She counted them off on her fingers. "...Puff and Pfaffle... Cέrμləa."
"Tsk, Ab'ĝalga," Verdé corrected.
"Ab'ĝalga," Rosa repeated. "And Valkarykarynarökris Helvargan just now. I think that's all of them. Well, aside from that dominion."
"No-one counts that dominion," Verdé said.
Phil listened to them without having the slightest idea what they were talking about. He had other things on his mind. He kept glancing nervously at the door, expecting a vengeful Astrapia and friends to burst through the door at any moment.
"Well, if that is all of them..."
"Then..."
Both turned to Phil with broad smiles on their faces.
"Congratulations, fledgling. You are now officially a warlock."
"Um, isn't that something the college determines after seven years?" Phil said.
The two succubi laughed.
"This calls for a celebration," Rosa said. "Let's go find some yummy students and screw them to—"
"Meditate," Verdé interrupted.
Rosa glanced at Phil. "Oh yes, meditate." She looked Verdé over. "You look like you could do with a spot of meditation."
"The bedmistresses play a little rough," Verdé said.
Rosa raised an eyebrow again.
Phil said. He glanced again at his door. "Shouldn't we be worried about those bedmistresses?"
"It will be fine," Verdé said. "Little skirmishes like this are a regular part of the daemon world. They rarely go further."
"If you're worried we can have Nÿte talk to Mother Diabolica," Rosa said. "She might even let Nÿte bring one back for you to play with. Was there one in particular you'd like to fuck?"
Phil didn't have the slightest clue how to respond to that, so he didn't.
Fortunately he didn't have to, as a young girl with blue hair, horns and red eyes appeared on the other side of the doorway to hell.
"Ah, Cέrμləa is here to give you your lesson for the day," Verdé said. "We'll leave you with her while we go off and..." she shared a glance with Rosa. "...meditate."
"Yes, and discuss some other things," Rosa said, giving Verdé a pointed stare.
"I know what they mean by meditate," Phil said after they'd left. "I'm not that stupid. It's not as if I could stop them anyway."
"You should be happy," Cέrμləa said. "Congratulations are in order."
"I don't suppose you feel like explaining what it all means," Phil said.
"Those that would wield daemons must demonstrate they can overcome all their daemons, not just the most prominent," Cέrμləa said.
Phil wrestled with understanding, before giving up. "Um, I don't suppose you could be more specific?"
"Sure," Cέrμləa said. "The first daemon a human attracts to them is one that reflects the greatest weakness in their character. That daemon can grant power, but mostly it's only interested in the human's soul unless the human shows promise. Weak masters are of no use to us.
"Given you were a lonely, horny teen with no knowledge of the opposite sex, your daemon was always going to come from the Dominion of Lust. You survived the first trial, but a warlock must prove they can withstand the temptations of all the other dominions. The exception to this is the eighth, the Dominion of F—"
She put a hand to her mouth.
"Oh wait, it's far too early to talk about that one. You all should forget I even mentioned it.
"Anyway," she continued. "You were given trials corresponding to each of the other dominions. You survived them. You are now, by the accords of hell, a warlock."
Phil went over her words. "That was surprisingly clear and understandable," he said.
"It was?" Cέrμləa said. "Hmm. Oh well, you should probably take it with a pinch of salt. I'm not the most reliable when it comes to explanations."
So much for clear and understandable, Phil thought. Shaking his head he stepped through the portal and back into hell. At least he was still alive.
Cέrμləa lingered on the threshold and stared through the doorway into Phil's bedroom on Earth. She reached out with a finger and tapped on the open doorway as if it was a sheet of glass. Glowing ripples of blue light spread out from the point of contact even though, to all extents and purposes, there was nothing there but empty air.
"Soon," she whispered.
And that's that for the Succubus Summoning 201 arc. I hope you've all enjoyed it despite the rather infrequent update schedule. It's not the end of Phil's adventures with deliciously salacious succubi. I'm going to take a break from this series to write up some other story ideas that have been sitting patiently in the back of my head, but then I'll return with Succubus Summoning 301 to pick up some of the story threads I've deliberately left open.
"Playtime with some bedmistresses from the Palace of Infernal and Iniquitous Pleasures," Verdé said.
Rosa raised an eyebrow at Verdé before continuing on with her introduction of the armoured daemon standing at her side.
"Anyway, I found someone. Valkarykarynarökris Helvargan will give our novice his final—"
The armoured daemon, Valkarykarynarökris, stared at Phil with piercing blue eyes. Her gaze was so intense Phil had the uncomfortable feeling she was stripping the skin, flesh and bone away to stare right through to what lay beneath.
"It is not necessary," Valkarykarynarökris said, cutting Rosa off mid-sentence.
Then she turned on her heels and left the room through the portal Cέrμləa had created, leaving two speechless succubi and a baffled Phil behind.
"My, how rude," Verdé said.
"That's pride daemons for you," Rosa said. "No wonder no-one likes them."
She looked at Phil.
"Do you think it counts?" she asked Verdé.
"I think so," Verdé said. "Is that all of them now?"
"Hmm, let me see," Rosa said. "Carnivrillarofax... Mr G... Ûmūn Šag..." She counted them off on her fingers. "...Puff and Pfaffle... Cέrμləa."
"Tsk, Ab'ĝalga," Verdé corrected.
"Ab'ĝalga," Rosa repeated. "And Valkarykarynarökris Helvargan just now. I think that's all of them. Well, aside from that dominion."
"No-one counts that dominion," Verdé said.
Phil listened to them without having the slightest idea what they were talking about. He had other things on his mind. He kept glancing nervously at the door, expecting a vengeful Astrapia and friends to burst through the door at any moment.
"Well, if that is all of them..."
"Then..."
Both turned to Phil with broad smiles on their faces.
"Congratulations, fledgling. You are now officially a warlock."
"Um, isn't that something the college determines after seven years?" Phil said.
The two succubi laughed.
"This calls for a celebration," Rosa said. "Let's go find some yummy students and screw them to—"
"Meditate," Verdé interrupted.
Rosa glanced at Phil. "Oh yes, meditate." She looked Verdé over. "You look like you could do with a spot of meditation."
"The bedmistresses play a little rough," Verdé said.
Rosa raised an eyebrow again.
Phil said. He glanced again at his door. "Shouldn't we be worried about those bedmistresses?"
"It will be fine," Verdé said. "Little skirmishes like this are a regular part of the daemon world. They rarely go further."
"If you're worried we can have Nÿte talk to Mother Diabolica," Rosa said. "She might even let Nÿte bring one back for you to play with. Was there one in particular you'd like to fuck?"
Phil didn't have the slightest clue how to respond to that, so he didn't.
Fortunately he didn't have to, as a young girl with blue hair, horns and red eyes appeared on the other side of the doorway to hell.
"Ah, Cέrμləa is here to give you your lesson for the day," Verdé said. "We'll leave you with her while we go off and..." she shared a glance with Rosa. "...meditate."
"Yes, and discuss some other things," Rosa said, giving Verdé a pointed stare.
"I know what they mean by meditate," Phil said after they'd left. "I'm not that stupid. It's not as if I could stop them anyway."
"You should be happy," Cέrμləa said. "Congratulations are in order."
"I don't suppose you feel like explaining what it all means," Phil said.
"Those that would wield daemons must demonstrate they can overcome all their daemons, not just the most prominent," Cέrμləa said.
Phil wrestled with understanding, before giving up. "Um, I don't suppose you could be more specific?"
"Sure," Cέrμləa said. "The first daemon a human attracts to them is one that reflects the greatest weakness in their character. That daemon can grant power, but mostly it's only interested in the human's soul unless the human shows promise. Weak masters are of no use to us.
"Given you were a lonely, horny teen with no knowledge of the opposite sex, your daemon was always going to come from the Dominion of Lust. You survived the first trial, but a warlock must prove they can withstand the temptations of all the other dominions. The exception to this is the eighth, the Dominion of F—"
She put a hand to her mouth.
"Oh wait, it's far too early to talk about that one. You all should forget I even mentioned it.
"Anyway," she continued. "You were given trials corresponding to each of the other dominions. You survived them. You are now, by the accords of hell, a warlock."
Phil went over her words. "That was surprisingly clear and understandable," he said.
"It was?" Cέrμləa said. "Hmm. Oh well, you should probably take it with a pinch of salt. I'm not the most reliable when it comes to explanations."
So much for clear and understandable, Phil thought. Shaking his head he stepped through the portal and back into hell. At least he was still alive.
Cέrμləa lingered on the threshold and stared through the doorway into Phil's bedroom on Earth. She reached out with a finger and tapped on the open doorway as if it was a sheet of glass. Glowing ripples of blue light spread out from the point of contact even though, to all extents and purposes, there was nothing there but empty air.
"Soon," she whispered.
And that's that for the Succubus Summoning 201 arc. I hope you've all enjoyed it despite the rather infrequent update schedule. It's not the end of Phil's adventures with deliciously salacious succubi. I'm going to take a break from this series to write up some other story ideas that have been sitting patiently in the back of my head, but then I'll return with Succubus Summoning 301 to pick up some of the story threads I've deliberately left open.
I'm aiming to collect all the 201 chapters together into an ebook/print book. Look out for that when it hits Amazon. (Feedback on the ending or anything is welcome – If I've screwed up here, there's still a chance to fix it before the final book version!)
Thanks for reading!
Next week will be back to the H-space Monster Girl Bestiary shorts.