Em'Maral The Menace! (Patreon)

Hey folks! How's it going out there?

October's shooting past fast now, right? Not sure I like that. I want to enjoy the season more - I'm getting plenty of inspiring story ideas this month. Oh well, it'll always come around again next year.

In keeping with the spooky theme, though, this week's tale involves a succubus and the great incarnation of all evils! Or something like that, anyway. To tell you the truth, I think this isekai story may have been built a little backwards...

Enjoy!

… In the depths of deepest darkness…

… Far beneath the bubbling froth of life, and the stilling sediment of death…

… Drifting deeper and deeper towards the trailing, crumbling fractured place, at the base of all things spiritual…

… Towards the realms where aeons of planets long crumbled to dust lie chained, and remnants of worlds before and after flicker for one last gleam…

… A soul sinks.

It slips away from the buoying currents of spirit and soul, seeping through the cracks of the bedrock of existence, called by a power far higher – and far lower.

Awaken…

The soul blinks. It is a curious sensation, to blink without eyelids. Out of curiosity, she blinks again, and then realises that in the time between the two motions, she’s managed to pick up a gender as well. Alas, the third blink does not come with any further perks, though she still gives it a few more tries before giving up.

You are a sinner…

Huh? Oh. Uh. The soul looks around, searching for the source of the voice resonating through them.

… Denied the rest of the afterlife…

She’s a bit lost, she realises as the scale and scope of the nothingness she has reached truly dawns on her. She has reached the very edges of creation, where reality frays thin, and time can’t be bothered to march. In all directions save behind, very, very far behind, there is naught but void surrounding her. And, as she squints – again, difficult with the lack of actual eyes – she realises that the void is staring back.

… And now, you stand before the greatest of the dark powers.

Oh. Oh boy.

“I didn’t realise I was that bad…?” She squeaks. It’s more of a thought than a vocalization, but the pitch still comes out all the same.

You were.

Oh.

You kept talking while people tried to listen to the bard solos.

“Aheh… right…” People had complained about that kind of thing a lot, now that she thought about it. Her memories were indistinct, collections of shadows and distorted voices, but a lot of them had sounded quite annoyed. “You know I think I might have been deaf in one ear…?

You mocked the Sphinx’s riddle instead of answering it.

She remembered that one! “It was derivative! Everyone knows the four legs two legs three legs thing! That girl needed new material.”

And when you died you had overdue books from over fifty wizard archives.

Oops. “Right, I knew I was forgetting something…”

A lot of things.

“A lot of things…”

Sinner.

She winced, her soul wobbling nervously. “Yessir?”

Your crimes are many.

“I-I mean… Maybe a little numerous…” He’d named a fair few after all.

But your glory is few.

She winced again, but this time for a different reason. “Uh. Not sure that was grammatically-”

I do not care.

Eep. “Yessir.” Probably best not to argue with the big disembodied voice.

You are here. That is all that matters.

“I, um.” She glanced around. Yep, still here – wherever here was. “I guess I am that, yeah.”

Rare is it for one such as you to make it to this place. The virtuous ascend. The glorious are claimed. To reach these depths, your soul carries great evil…

“I mean…”

… That no one pays any attention to.

“Ouch.” Well wasn’t that just the story of her life?

But what came before no longer has meaning. Only the now, and the to come, matter here.

“Okay?” Okay! She could do this. She’d read some of those philosophy books. “Past is dead, the future is yet to be born, all that matters is the moment, cool, I think I can get behind that kind of philosophy nonsense!”

Do not call it nonsense.

Double eep. “Sorry sir.”

I have a use for one such as you. For one who can reach these depths.

“Oh, um. Cool? Cool. Happy to help, I guess.” It wasn’t like there was much else to do down here.

There is another world to which I would send you. A world without sorcerers and dragons. A world were the power of magic wanes, and the might of technology rises.

Another eyeless blink. The soul wobbled. No sorcerers? No dragons? Huh. How did anyone get anything done then? “Techno-whatnow?”

I would send you to restore the balance. To turn the tide. Prove the might of our kind, and surrender that realm to the darkness.

“The- The darkness?” She swallowed. Again, an interesting feeling without a throat. “What, just, like, evil in general?”

Yes.

Oh dear. Okay, maybe she was a sinner – she’d been given plenty of examples of her sins – bt she wasn’t sure about this whole ‘evil’ thing. She didn’t have much experience there, most of her crimes had come from laziness or neglect! Maybe she wasn’t cut out for this. “Do- Do I get a choice in all this?”

Of course. You are free to wander around the infinite dark for as long as you like. Nothing shall change. Nothing shall move. There is no exit, and there is no escape. My offer to you is the only way out, and it shall not change.

Ah. “That was a really long winded way to say no.”

Your name shall be Em’Maral.

“Okay, guess we’re moving on,” she muttered. “Emerald?”

No, Em’Maral. It means ‘Subjugator of worlds’ in the ancient tongue. It is unrelated to the stone.

Huh.

Though you will also be green.

“Wait, what? “

Your new form as the herald will grant you the power you need to achieve your mission.

H-hey now, this was all getting really out of hand. Slow down! “New form? What, like an elf?” Her soul shifted uneasily. “I knew some pretty elves…”

You will be a demon.

Oh.

A succubus.

Oh.

A purveyor of lust, a predator of sin, a temptress and seductress, with a body designed to milk the fruit of-

“Yep! Yep, I know what a succubus is, got it!” Oh god, how was she blushing like this? She didn’t have a face! Okay. Okay. Calm down. Deep breaths. Don’t think about the lack of lungs. She had to get her questions in order, and ask clearly. This wasn’t the kind of thing she wanted to screw up. “Uh…”

Now be on your way.

Wait, no! “H-hey, wait a sec-!”

No.

The deepest, darkest depths of existence flashed with light – and then silence returned once more.

-

“Guh!”

She burst awake, gasping for air, and immediately found herself drowning in an avalanche of lightweight brown crates. There was a moment of uncertain thrashing and squealing, before she managed to break free of her unneeded burial.

“What- Where- Why-?” More than a little dazed, Em’Maral looked around, hand to her chest. A great many questions were bouncing around inside her head, but the main one, this second, was somehow ‘Oh, I guess my name really is Em’Maral now, huh?’

A strange priority, perhaps, but it was the thing that most stood out about this new existence she’d been booted into. The other was, of course…

“The heck are these things…?”

She nudged the pile of brown crates with her foot. They seemed to be made with some kind of paper, and were emblazoned with bright labels and pictures of fruit. Weird.

Looking around a bit further, she found that she was standing in an alleyway – oh yeah, she’d been in enough cities to recognise an alleyway, for sure. There was no mistaking this specific brand of dank. On either side of her there were stone buildings – brick on one side, weird slabs on the other. And beneath her, the ground was made of a kind of stone she didn’t recognise, one that felt cold under her bare feet.

Bare…?

Oh!

“Huh.” She lifted her foot and turned it over, examining it. As promised, her skin was definitely green – a rich, vibrant hue, kind of like dew-soaked grass. She also had talons now, apparently, sharp black ones, and hoo, she could probably do some damage with those. Her only shoes seemed to be a strap of black leather, wrapped under the arch of her foot and up around her ankle. Not the sturdiest kind of footwear, but her sole seemed tough enough to not need more.

Then her eyes followed her body up, drifting over strong, toned legs and reaching an impressively sexy set of thighs. The new demoness couldn’t help but whistle at the sight – which, unfortunately, was enough to tip over her one-legged balance and send her to the floor once again. “Ack!”

Heck of a way to find out you have wings and a tail, as it turned out. Sensitive wings and a tail, too, which did not enjoy being landed on! Tch.

At least she was ready for what she’d find in the rest of her inspection once she got back up now, though. Toned tum, biiiig boobs, horns, yellow glowing eyes, and an outfit straight out of a Wizard’s BDSM dungeon… Yep, she was a succubus now! No doubts about that. That mysterious evil voice had clearly meant every word it said.

So, hm. She’d been reborn into a new world to be a scourge of evil, and drag this place into the darkness, huh? How was she going to go about doing something like that? It might be tricky. Things looked awfully bright around here. She’d been lucky to arrive in this relatively shady alley, but outside of it, the sun was high in the sky, and there were a lot of tall, shining towers all over the horizon. And a lot of people flying about in capes, too…

Huh. Hadn’t the darkness said there weren’t Sorcerers here? Why was everyone flying, then? What was this strange world she’d found herself in…?

“Well what have we got here?”

A new voice made her spin around. A pair of figures had entered the alleyway, one tall and one short, blocking the exit. Behind her there was only a brick wall, and, uh, she hadn’t quite worked out how to use her wings yet. Suddenly she felt a little intimidated.

“A pretty thing like you should be more careful. You could get in all sorts of trouble, wandering into dark alleys like this.”

The pair were dressed most oddly to the succubus’s eyes, wearing white and black sweaters and long brown slacks, and strange black hats on their heads that extended all the way down over their faces, with only eyeholes for them to see out of. It all looked rather uncomfortable to her. Was this the world’s fashion? If it was, her outfit was going to stand out pretty badly…

But before she could ask any questions or get into any further trouble, a shout rang out. “Halt!”

The taller man turned back to the mouth of the alley, hissing. “Ah, damnit, a hero!”

A hero! Oho, she was saved! No, wait a second, she was evil now, wasn’t she? Oh darnit, this was getting confusing already.

Into the alleyway burst a woman with long flowing purple hair, wearing a strange white outfit made of some kind of cloth – sort of like the kind Monks wore back home, with a black belt tight around her middle. She had a pretty cute look to her, and wow, whatever kind of robes those were, they did absolutely nothing to hide her stacked figure, wowzers. And those muscles looked pretty powerful, and so did her kicks as she snapped out a foot and sent one of the muggers flying!

“It’s Lady Fighter X!” The other one yelled, charging at the new arrival, just before he got walloped into the wall and dropped to the floor. “Uuugh…”

“Damn right it is,” the purple haired woman said, dusting her hands. “When are you thugs going to learn your lesson? This block is protected! Don’t go around harassing innocent women here!” She paused, then winced. “Or anywhere!”

Huh. So this was a hero in this world, was it? Wow. She’s kinda hot.

“There we go. Sorry you had to see that, miss- Uh. Huh?”

She was looking at Em’Meral, her expression confused. Why would that be? Oh right. She was a succubus now! Ha, man, she was never going to get used to that, was she?

Wait. Uh oh. Hero + Demon = Bad Times for her, right? Especially with how that hero was looking at her!

“Um. Hi! And thanks. That, uh. That was pretty scary!” Em tried to think fast, but such things had never been her speciality. She was more of a ‘run away and hide’ kind of thinker. But maybe she had some heretofore unknown ability to bluff, powers installed by the great darkness? She really hoped so, because otherwise here was no escape here!

“Uh. You’re welcome…?” Purple haired hero was still staring at her. Honestly, this was getting kind of awkward. “Hey, um, so, can I ask you something…?”

Nope! Nope nope nope, no questions, questions bad. Em could feel it in her evil bones. She needed to get out of here now. The longer this lasted, the worse it was going to get! Oh man, she was gunna get kicked right back to the darkness…!

“Uh, actually, y’know, I’m kind of in a hurry here, so…” The demon mumbled, trying to slide around the other woman (tricky with her stupidly lust-centric proportions, and Miss Lady Fighter X was no slouch in that department either) with a hazy excuse. If she could get past she could sprint for the exit, and then-

… Well, she’d figure out the next step when she got there.

Unfortunately for her (or, actually, probably fortunately considering the alternative), the hero wasn’t going to let that happen.

“Hey, wait a se-!” X’s hand shot out to grab the passing demon’s shoulder, stopping her from getting past.

Fortunately for her (or, actually, probably unfortunately considering the consequences), the demoness did have a few tricks up her skimpy leather sleeves! Much to her own surprise, and the heroine’s.

“Mwah!”

It happened in an instant. One second, Em’Maral was feebly struggling to get out of X’s grip, and the next, instinct took over, and the demon leaned in, using the hero’s own stance to leverage the two of them into a kiss. Neither of them seemed to be expecting this move, judging by the wide eyes on both parties faces staring into one another.

The reincarnated evil felt something then – a deep, delicious warmth, filling her mouth. It wasn’t anything physical, it wasn’t, like, the heroine’s tongue or anything, just… an ethereal sensation, passing between their lips. Her wide eyes blinked, her brow furrowing in confusion – a confusion that grew even deeper as she watched X’s eyes start to dull, gaining a deep, unfocused glaze…

Em swallowed automatically, and felt the strange disappear inside her, slipping down her throat and into her core, where it was absorbed – part of her forever. Then she pulled back, trying to extract herself from this incredibly embarrassing situation as quick as she could.

It turned out to be easy. X’s hand slid off of her shoulder without complaint. In fact, the heroine just stood there, arms slack at her sides, staring into space. She was even starting to drool.

“Uh.” Em licked her lips nervously. This didn’t seem right. “Are you okay?”

“I am fine, Mistress,” the purple haired woman answered. “Save for the loss of my free will.”

“Huh. Kay then.” Score! Okay, time to run away. She could… Could… Hm. “Wait, what do you mean loss of your free will?” That actually sounded pretty bad!

“You have stolen my will, Mistress,” the empty eyed heroine patiently (and dully) explained, her gaze still refusing to focus. “Part of my soul has been stolen by your lips, and through it you have claimed ownership of my mind and body. Please use me as you see fit.”

Oh. Huh. Wow, that sounded… Oh! Oh wait. Oooohhh.

Em looked around, her tail flicking nervously. Uh. Had she just drained this hero’s soul? Was she supposed to do stuff like that? She was evil, and that sounded pretty evil, but still, a bit much, wasn’t it?

“You sound like you know more about how this works that I do,” the succubus groused, once she was sure there was no one around to come after for this – even the two thugs had run off.

“It was a very instructive kiss, Mistress,” the thrall droned. “What do you wish me to do now?”

Huuuuh. Well, that explained why she kept calling her Mistress now. “So I have complete control over you?”

X nodded. “Yes Mistress.”

“Okay.” Okay. She needed to think this through. Don’t rush into anything silly. Plan! Scheme! This was her big chance! “Uh, can you get me some clothes? I can’t really go anywhere while I look like this.” She gestured down to her very eye-catching body.

“Certainly, Mistress!” The heroine immediately started pulling off her robes.

“Wait wait, no, not like that!” Em waved her hands furiously. “That’s just going to get us even more attention! Just, just find me a disguise or something so that I can move around your world without getting flash mobbed by a bunch of demon hunters!”

“Oh.” Was it her, or did X sound disappointed as she pulled her robe back on. “Then, have you tried shapeshifting yet, Mistress? That’s usually a demonic power.”

The demon blinked. “Wait, I can do that? How?”

“Um.” The heroine looked as confused as she did. “Maybe the same way you stole my soul? How did that work?”

“I don’t know, I just felt kinda warm…” Em’Maral sighed, closing her eyes and trying to pull that feeling back up. Maybe if she just tried, focusing on a more inconspicuous shape. She tried to picture something in her head, something she knew wouldn’t attract any attention here – and as she did so, she felt a familiar burst of warmth, the feeling cresting over her skin like a wave. There was a curious sensation of falling, and then…

“Ah.” X looked down at her. “I see you got it working, Mistress. That’s definitely a disguise…”

The cardboard box hopped in place, a cute cartoon succubus on its side. The lid flapped as it spoke. “This isn’t what I meant! Argh, how do I-?” There was a puff of purple smoke, and a green succubus was once again stretching out in the alleyway. “Gah! There, there’s better. Okay, might take some time to get used to that power… But cool! I’ve got shapeshifting and soul sucking! I bet I can do some evil with these. Uh. Somehow…”

Yeah, that was an issue, wasn’t it? She’d been sent to cause trouble and ‘surrender the realm to darkness’, which sounded like a fancy way of saying conquer the place, but she didn’t actually know anything about her new home. How was she supposed to take over, exactly?

“Sooo, uh…” Em folded her arms behind her head and waved her wings absently behind her. “You know this place pretty well. If I wanted, to, say, cause some trouble, where should I go?”

The purple haired woman’s eyebrow rose. The glaze in her eyes was starting to fade, some of her old spark returning, even if now revolved entirely around the demon in front of her. “Trouble, Mistress?”

“Yeah, you know…” The succubus shrugged uncertainly. “Like, good ways to abuse my powers and stuff? Once I work them out, anyway. That’ll probably make the boss happy…”

“Hm.”

Lady Fighter X had a bit of a dilemma here. Her beloved and oh so very sexy Mistress had just asked her a question. An important question! Even if she still didn’t fully understand what was going on here, the hero could still figure out the general gist of what was going on. Her owner had been sent to this world to take over, and wanted her to point the way to the best way to do that.

The problem was, of course, that this was a world with a lot of different nations and political systems. There was no quick and fast way to take over the world (no matter what countless super villains seemed to think). Ultimately, the only way to take over was either going to be through physical force, or through overwhelming wealth. And neither option was going to be particularly swift.

Still, Em’Maral was asking her to make a decision here – which posed a second, slightly less important problem, which was that Lady Fighter X was a hero. She did hero things, and thought hero thoughts! Of course she’d stop doing so in an instant if her Mistress commanded her to, but so far she’d not received any such instruction, and thus, was free to let her heroic nature influence the decisions she was making.

Namely, if her Mistress wanted to half-heartedly go after someone… why not make sure it was someone who deserved a bit of going after?

Oh, not an actual supervillain, no, perish the thought. Poor Mistress would get turned into mincemeat! She very clearly wasn’t a high level fighter or anything of the sort. Maybe one day, if she worked out how her powers functioned… but not today. So, probably nothing that would involve having to deal with a great deal of security or armed resistance, for that matter. Not until she had a bit of experience under her belt.

So, what had she been asked for exactly, here? Somewhere that Em’Maral could ‘abuse her powers’? Okay, maybe she could work with that…

“How about we get you some money? I know a casino or two you could go to town on…” Casinos that were a front for a bunch of villainous groups who had managed to bribe enough people at city hall to make themselves above the law, sure, but still casinos! That’d tick all of the boxes.

“Hm.” But Em’Maral frowned. “I dunno, I’ve never been very lucky…”

“Ah… W-well, Mistress…” X paused. For a succubus, her new owner was rather earnest. She’d have to be as clear as possible. “I don’t think that’ll be much of a problem if you steal the dealer’s soul and tell her to give you all of her chips. Or you could just rob the front desk, or shapeshift your way into their vault… You’ve got a lot of options!”

Now the demon was looking confused. “Isn’t that, like, cheating or something? Won’t we get in trouble?”

Oh good lord. There wasn’t a criminal bone in this incarnation of evil’s body. X was going to have to do all of the work here, wasn’t she?

“There’s no rules against it,” the heroine nodded diplomatically. “And if they get upset, I’ll kick them into next week for you!” The thought of being useful to her Mistress sent a nice warm thrill through the tamed woman. That was her purpose now, after all~

“Huh. Well I guess we can try,” Em nodded, thinking deep. “Though, it’s getting kinda late in the day, isn’t it? All this plotting and scheming is tiring me out. Maybe I should find a hotel to stay at for the night first…”

“Oh, I’d be delighted to give you my apartment, Mistress!” X’s eyes lit up. “You can use my bed, no problem!”

“You’re sure? That’s so sweet!” The demoness clapped. “I don’t want to make you sleep on the floor though…”

“… Well I was gunna be in the bed as well…” the heroine muttered, slightly disappointed, but rallying. “Either way, it doesn’t bother me. You come first, Mistress! Though, uh… It’s not that late, y’know…” She glanced up, towards the beautifully clear late morning sky.

But her owner shook her head. “No, no, we’ve gotta do things properly, right? Like, having a home base is definitely a big part of taking over the world. Let’s get that sorted out first.” Not an evil bone in her body, but she definitely had a lazy ass. “Hold on, lemme shapeshift into something less suspicious…”

There was a familiar puff of smoke – and then a cardboard box was sitting in the middle of the alleyway.

“… I guess I’m still not very good at this part,” it muttered.

“That’s fine, Mistress.” X bent down and scooped it up. “I can carry you home like this, and you can practice once we get there!”

Well, fair enough. The box snuggled in her minion’s arms as she was carried away. She was going to conquer this world for darkness, just as commanded! Surely that couldn’t take too long. Like, what, a week, maybe two, tops? And it hadn’t sounded like the big guy was in a hurry. She could probably afford to take a little time off, maybe get a part-time job to pick up some spending money…

But soon enough, this realm was gunna be hers! You’d better believe it – one day, Em’Maral was gunna conquer the world!

… Though one got the feeling that being carried was going to become a very familiar feeling to her…