Chapter 530 - Yet Another Harem Member?
Chapter 530 – Yet Another Harem Member?
Setting her hand on my forehead, Eve administered the removal of her seal of control on me smoothly and flawlessly. After a few seconds, I felt it be removed, and Eve backed away with an alluring smile.
"There. Finished."
"Thanks," I replied with a grin, and immediately put up a mind block spell to prevent her from further reading my thoughts. Before, I couldn't do this since she had full control over my actions, but now… heh. Good luck trying to read my mind now.
I could finally think about what I truly was intending when I offered that deal. Soul Shackle, as the name suggests, shackles the two of us's souls together. However, while it is true that if she gets hurt, I receive the same injury, the opposite is not quite the same. If I were to hurt myself, she would probably die. An injury on me would be amplified hundredfold on anyone who was shackled to me, and since no one else was still tied to me after I fell off that cliff and met Axilia, I could afford to be somewhat reckless.
I smirked inside my heart and prepared to stealthily make a little cut on my hand, just to see this woman suffer, but…
… Ultimately, I decided against it.
More or less, she had stuck to her words, and didn't really harm me. Even after my murderous plan was exposed, she still agreed to a deal with me, even though she could've refused. If anything, I didn't think she was particularly evil.
My father had asked me to save the four Cardinals if possible, but… what have I done? I killed two, and left the third nearly dead too.
But of course, just because I wasn't going to kill her, didn't mean I wasn't going to make use of her.
"Alright… now that I'm free from your chains…" I smirked, folding my arms. "Let's make another deal."
"Oh? Another one?" Eve tilted her head, curious.
"Yeah. I want you… to lend me your power in battle."
"And in return…?"
"In return, I will satisfy your… needs. Any needs."
"Ah, but I already have everything I need right here. You already agreed earlier to have sex with me when I want it, no?"
"I did, but… I never promised."
"…" At this, Eve fell silent, and her glowing pink eyes narrowed slightly. I could sense faint traces of anger in her, though it was somewhat thin.
"You said you were bored earlier, and that's why you chose to go along with X's plans, correct?" I continued, falling into thought. "If that is the case, then this should be a great deal for you. I guarantee, you'll never feel bored around me and my friends."
"Oho… that is a bold statement," Eve said. "I get bored easily, you know…"
"Well, that's not all there is to the offer. If you do join me, I'll tell you all about my power, and what exactly it is. That's something to pique your interest, no?"
"So… you do know about it after all," Eve giggled, any sign of the anger from earlier now gone. "How interesting indeed… you managed to evade my mind reading by filling your head with images of my naked body, so it seems natural… clever, I'll give you that."
"I've been told that by more than just a few people," I replied with a grin. "But back to the matter at hand… how about my deal? It's a worthy trade-off, no?"
"Why are you doing this?" She asked, to no one's surprise. "You know full well I will harbor feelings of hate towards you after you deceived me, and yet you are still offering for me to join your side?"
"You are not inherently evil," I declared confidently. "Of that much, I am certain. If you were, you would've used a hostage to make me talk. With your dream-manipulating powers, that much should be easy. And yet… instead, you chose to make me come alone, and have a more or less peaceful conversation."
"Fufu… that's the first time someone has told me that, you know…" Eve giggled softly, crossing one leg over the other on her throne. "You are truly interesting. No one would look at a succubus and call them not evil. We quite literally take men's lives to sustain our own lives, you know. We are murderers."
"And so what?" I challenged, folding my arms. "There are plenty of murderers in this world. Heroes of justice are murderers too, if you think about it. Just because you take people's lives… does not mean you are evil. And correct me if I'm wrong, but… don't the succubi only take male prisoners from other territories?"
"Yes, that is true," Eve replied, tilting her head curiously. "You know more about my race than I expected."
"Well… I've met one before," I said, recalling my meeting with Mei Mo. That seemed like so long ago, during the invasion on Shenzhen. It had been brief, but she had spoken about the succubi race.
"… Hm."
Slowly, Eve rose from her throne, and walked towards me until we were only inches apart.
"I accept your offer."
I blinked. "For real?"
"Yes. Why do you seem to so surprised?"
"Uh… well, actually, I wasn't expecting you to agree so easily," I said hesitantly. "I had a few more reasons thought up…"
"No need," Eve replied with a smile. "You see, my life was quite boring before today. But you… you are interesting. And if there is one thing I hate most in this world… it's boredom. So, there is no reason for me to refuse your offer… even if you *are a little deceptive at times."
"Not this time," I reassured. "I am completely serious about this agreement."
"Good. Then, are we heading off now, back to that cute beach of yours?"
"Huh?" I blinked. "You don't have to… y'know, take care of certain 'queenly' matters before just suddenly leaving like this?"
"Oh, relax," Eve laughed maturely, tapping me on the shoulder. "Even though I am the so-called queen, there really is no diplomacy amongst succubi. My subordinates handle all the organization and such. I am just the authority in name, and command the subordinates what to do. Unless something extremely major and dangerous occurs, they will not need me. Even if I were to die, it would take them a few months to find out at the very least."
"I… see…" I murmured, not understanding their way of doing things. "Well, if that's the case, then let's go back. The others must be worried about me, so… take my hand."
Eve smiled and did as told, taking my hand in hers. Then, I activated Space Magic, and teleported back to the private beach without any hesitation, eager to get out of this place.
*****
So why, exactly, did I choose to make that deal with Eve?
There were two reasons. One, I did not want to kill another one of the Four Cardinals if possible, after learning their reasons for helping X. Two, and the more important one, was that Eve could be a very powerful asset for me in the future.
Her charming skills meant she could instantly take down any man or even a group of men at the same time, and getting information would be extremely easy. I'm not sure how my father managed to resist her, but if I had to guess, it would be the power of Chaos. Although his potential with it is not nearly as great as mine, just as he stated, he has years of experience on me. His current mastery of the element is still greater than mine right now, but the same will not be true in a few months.
But other than Eve's charms as the succubus queen, her more powerful ability was dream manipulation, just like what she had used on me.
No matter how powerful someone may be in reality, in the realm of dreams, commonly shared by all lifeforms who possess enough intelligence to dream, they are vulnerable. They do not have access to their powers, and thus are just normal people. Eve, however, somehow found a way to break past this and manipulate others via dreams, which was something I was both interested in and needed to be wary of.
I wasn't sure how exactly to guard against this, which was also another reason why I decided to make Eve an ally. If she was an enemy, things would not be pretty. I didn't even consider a power like this before, so this made me realize how many weaknesses Chaos at its current stage truly has… in my hands, anyway.
Still, as an ally, Eve could make good use of these dream manipulation skills on enemies as well. I mean, she literally made me fly across half the planet to reach her at 4 AM in the morning. Imagine what she could do to my enemies…
I asked her about the dream manipulation skill and how she did it, but she refused to tell me anything. I mean, that was fair. A magician never reveals their secrets, after all…
…. And Eve was all but a magician, in her own right.