Chapter 6. Ego Death

Succubi Chapter 6. Ego Death

She blinked slowly, lifting her free hand.

Then, just before my attack could tear through her, she whispered a single word.

"Absorb."

A second later—my slash completely disappeared.

I stared. ‘What. The. Hell.’

The girl didn’t even look fazed. She just casually sipped her drink, blinking at me like I was a particularly slow-moving bug.

I blinked back.

Did… did she just delete my attack from existence?

Leon let out a low whistle. "Okay. What the actual f*ck."

Ares, who was still trying to process the fact that he almost got cut in half, turned sharply, his eyes narrowing at the girl.

"You," he muttered. "Who are you?"

The girl sighed, like this was the most annoying question in the world.

Then, still holding her half-finished boba, she tilted her head slightly at me.

"Your Aether Slash was unstable," she said, her voice soft and lazy, like she just woke up. "It shouldn’t have strayed that far."

I squinted. "Yeah, uh. Sorry? But also—how did you do that?"

She blinked again, clearly not in a rush to answer.

Ares stepped forward, his expression calculating. "That skill you used—‘Absorb.’ What kind of magic was that?"

She ignored him.

Literally.

Didn’t even acknowledge his existence.

Instead, she just pointed at my sword.

"You rely too much on instinct," she said, completely deadpan.

I scowled. "What does that even mean?"

The girl, still unfazed, tilted her head at me. "You're fast. You read movements well. But you're inefficient. Your strikes waste energy."

I blinked.

Ares frowned slightly, watching her like he was trying to figure something out.

"You’re analyzing his style," Ares said slowly.

The girl finally looked at him. "Yes?"

Ares' eyes narrowed. "Then that means you have a combat class. What House are you in?"

She sighed again, looking at him like he was the dumbest person alive.

"House of Arcana," she said.

Leon froze.

"Wait, hold up." He looked at me, then at Ares, then back at the girl. "You're a mage?!"

The girl gave him the most deadpan look possible.

"Shadow Mage," she corrected.

That explained… literally nothing.

I sighed, rubbing the back of my neck. "Okay, well, uh. Thanks for not letting me accidentally commit manslaughter."

The girl just nodded, like this was a normal conversation.

Ares, however, was still watching her carefully. "What's your name?" he asked.

She ignored him.

Like, not even a flicker of acknowledgment. She turned away, like he was some random NPC that didn’t deserve dialogue.

I was half-expecting Ares to spontaneously combust from the sheer level of disrespect. His eye twitched slightly, and his grip on his sword tightened, but to his credit, he didn’t snap. He just stood there, seething in dignified silence.

But here’s the thing.

I also wanted to know her name.

She just ate my attack like it was a snack, ignored Ares like he was irrelevant, and walked off like she had better things to do.

I couldn’t just let that slide.

So, against my better judgment, I jogged after her. "Hey! Wait up!"

She didn’t stop.

I sped up, falling into step beside her. "I just—okay, I have a lot of questions, but first, what’s your name?"

She finally glanced at me. Slow. Unbothered. Like she was trying to decide if I was worth answering.

Then, after a few seconds of silence, she finally spoke.

"Gladia Avarosa."

I blinked. "Right. Well. I’m Evan Drakos."

She actually smiled.

Not a smirk. Not the weird half-smile she gave Ares.

Just a small, genuine smile.

Then, without a word, she reached into her pocket, pulled something out, and handed it to me.

A chocolate candy.

I stared at it. Then at her. Then at the candy again.

"...What?"

"Take it."

I hesitated, but then accepted it because—why not?

I turned it over in my hands. It was wrapped neatly, a fancy-looking dark chocolate truffle.

"For what?" I asked.

"You," she said simply.

I blinked. "Huh?"

"You look like you're in a bad mood," she said. "Chocolate fixes moods."

Okay.

Weird.

But honestly?

This was the first nice thing that had happened to me all day.

So yes, I was absolutely taking this win.

I unwrapped it and popped it into my mouth without hesitation.

And damn. It was good.

Like, really good.

Smooth, rich, slightly bitter but melts in your mouth kind of good.

I was about to thank her when— Ares stormed over, looking like someone just personally offended his entire family.

"Why did you answer him," he demanded, "but not me?"

Leon, who had followed me over, snorted so hard he almost choked.

I would have laughed too, but I was still processing how good this chocolate was.

Gladia, however, didn’t even flinch.

She tilted her head slightly, then looked Ares up and down like she was assessing his worth as a person.

Then she said the absolute worst thing possible.

"Because you aren’t interesting."

I almost choked on my chocolate.

Leon’s dark face suddenly brightened and he gasped so dramatically I thought he was about to pass out.

Ares?

Ares looked like he was about to ascend to another plane out of pure spite.

Before he could say anything, Gladia turned to me, her emerald eyes sharp and amused.

"But he is."

Leon wheezed.

I froze.

Ares looked like he was experiencing ego death in real-time.

I had no idea what to do with this information.

"...Cool," I said, because my brain was short-circuiting.

Gladia just nodded like that was a normal thing to say and turned to leave.

Leon, still trying not to laugh, slapped a hand on my shoulder. "Bro. I need you to understand something."

I rubbed my face. "What."

"You’ve been here for what—a few hours? And you’ve already gotten yourself an all-girls dorm, a rivalry, a near-death experience, and now a mysterious girl feeding you chocolate while rejecting Ares Bellator."

I groaned. "Please shut up."

Leon grinned. "I refuse."

Ares, who had finally recovered from the ego shattering experience, exhaled through his nose.

"Fine," he muttered. "This fight is over."

I scoffed. "No shit."

Ares ignored me and looked back at Gladia’s retreating figure, his jaw tight.

"I will figure you out," he called after her.

She didn’t even turn around. She just raised a single hand in a lazy wave and kept walking.

Leon laughed so hard that he had to lean on me for support.

"Bro, I can't—" he wheezed between gasps. "This—this is too much. This is the greatest day of my life!"

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