Broken Possessors of Infinite Regression Academy

The Green Poison Fog. It was a technique synonymous with Kirke, the second legion commander of the Demon King’s army.
Its power was immense, but what made it truly formidable was that in this world, where there were no status-removing spells, the means to counter it were extremely limited. Without Aria, even the priests and nuns would have had a clear limit to what they could do.

“Kihihi. Hih, hick.”
Kirke cackled, her voice stuttering, as the poison fog corroded the walls and floors, spreading relentlessly.
Her laughter, combined with her expression and the crimson tentacles protruding from her mouth, created an eerie scene, made all the more disturbing by the green fog that had engulfed half of the central hall.

“Run! Hurry!”
The succubi, who knew the power of the fog better than anyone, were in a panic, fleeing for their lives. However, one of them, who had been closest to the main entrance, didn’t make it in time and was engulfed by the green mist.

“Kyaaaaaaaaah!”
With a piercing scream, her body began to melt. The succubus fell to the floor with a splat. The substances that had once made up her body transformed into liquid, spreading out like a puddle.

What was even more horrifying was that even as her eyeballs rolled across the floor, her fingernails and toenails fell off, and her body gradually dissolved, the succubus continued to scream, still alive.

The other succubi, witnessing this terrifying scene, clung to the stairs, trembling in fear.

“What are you doing? If you don’t awaken the Queen, we’ll all die here!” I said calmly, and only then did they seem to snap out of their daze. They grabbed Nika and dragged her up the stairs as if their lives depended on it, which they probably did.

“Nika! No! Your Majesty! This way!”
“Your Majesty needs to awaken if we’re to survive!”
“Let go of me! What about my master? Isn’t he coming?!

Nika, half-lifted and half-dragged, still reached out for me with desperate determination, but she couldn’t even manage a single suction before being overpowered by the high-ranking succubi who had been kept separate here as punishment for being half-wits.

As her body disappeared up the stairs, I was the only one left standing on the first floor. Kirke, her voice stuttering, laughed.

“You… You’re not running away? Do you want to die?”

Soon, I, too, was enveloped by the green fog. The ripping smile on her face deepened, but it didn’t take long for her expression to change to one of confusion as she saw me standing there, unaffected.

“How… How are you still alive? That’s strange.”

“Why? Because it’s weaker than what I’ve experienced before.” I surrounded my body with mana, enhancing my physical abilities, and leaped forward. With a single bound, I closed the distance to within sword range. Kirke hadn’t even realized I was approaching until that moment.

I swung Eternity diagonally, and the blade sliced through her left shoulder, tearing through her body and emerging from her left side. A beat too late, the smile vanished from Kirke’s face.

The clothes were cut along the path of the blade, and soon a diagonal line appeared on her skin. The upper half of her body crumbled under the force of gravity and flopped onto the carpet.

I confirmed that the wobbling lower half had also collapsed, tripping over its own body, before using purification magic to dispel the poison fog that filled the central hall.

The first floor, now cleared of the green fog, was a grim sight. Everything around had been corroded, rotted, or melted, leaving it in ruins.

‘She’s already dead.’

It seemed that the poison fog had some sort of life-prolonging effect, as the succubus who had been alive when I charged was now dead, foaming at the mouth. Half of her body had melted away, revealing bones, and a pool of liquefied corpse spread out from where she lay. I snapped my fingers, incinerating both the body and the puddle.

I felt no pity for her. Being a high-ranking succubus imprisoned here separately meant she had likely fed on many humans or other beings.

“Hihi. Hihi. Hihi. Hihi.”

“……?”

The stuttering laughter came again. I turned, expecting to find Kirke still alive, and indeed, the upper half of her body was laughing bizarrely.

‘She was already dead to begin with.’

Instead of the usual internal organs and flesh, Kirke’s body was filled with something else.

Crimson tentacles protruded from her mouth, packing the severed areas tightly. In other words, she had been as good as dead since the tentacles took over.

I gripped Eternity and took a step back. With a creak, Kirke’s body rose.

“Queen, take, take her away? Mira, Mi, Mi, Ra Crate. Found her? Take? Take? Go? Kill? Kill?”

Unintelligible stuttering sounds came from her mouth. Now I understood why she spoke like that. Being half-undead explained it.

The crimson tentacles that had overflowed from the severed areas connected the upper and lower halves of her body. Although the tentacles didn’t seal the skin, leaving the diagonal cut visible, her body was functioning again as if nothing had happened.

“Kill? Kill? Kill? Kill? Kill? Kihit, cack, hit, hit.”

“You’re annoying.”

I enveloped Eternity in flames.

The white flames that had burned countless deaths to ashes blazed brightly.

.

.

.

“Come in quickly! Hurry!”

Cliona, the highest-ranking and most senior succubus imprisoned in the castle, fled without looking back to the topmost room of the castle, with dozens of other succubi scurrying after her.

Most succubi strongly preferred activities other than combat and had a strong attachment to their lives. Especially if they guessed they had no chance of winning, they would usually lose their fighting spirit even before the battle began.

The only reason they had ever entered the battlefield was because of Astaroth, one of the rare succubi who didn’t fall into the ‘majority’, and the Queen, to whom all succubi instinctively and absolutely obeyed.

“It’s good that you brought her, but how do we awaken her as the Queen?”

The succubi, who had panicked and locked themselves in, now realized their mistake and began to worry. They had been so focused on getting back to their master that they hadn’t thought about how to awaken Nika, their new Queen, even though they knew the poison fog would be useless against her.

“……I don’t know either.”

Cliona was honest. The succession of power was a highly secretive process. The current Succubus Queen and the next candidate would enter a secret room together, and what transpired within was known only to the two of them.

Moreover, as the last succession had taken place almost a thousand years ago, Cliona genuinely had no knowledge of the process. None of the previous Queens had left any records or explanations about it.

‘What are we supposed to do with this male? How are we supposed to know how to become the Queen?’

Cliona felt a deep sense of injustice. She had the opportunity to overthrow the traitor Astaroth and create a new Succubus Queen, but she couldn’t do it because she didn’t know how. It wasn’t that she hadn’t tried; she had simply been unable to.

She had pretended to be cautious and feigned ignorance to hide her lack of knowledge, hoping to buy herself some time.

“So, are we just going to die here? We can’t stop the poison fog…… and there’s no way out……”

“Damn it, you keep…… Wait, no. Let’s try everything we can. How much essence do you have left?”

“I’ve used it all up……”

“Me too.”

“I have a little left, but it’s almost gone.”

Cliona felt despair once again as she realized that even the remaining essence was almost gone.

In a sense, their fate had been sealed the moment they were imprisoned here. The Demon King had made it clear thats he would only provide a minimal amount of essence after it had been completely depleted, for fear that they would attempt something unnecessary.

Furthermore, their nature craved pleasure, and they had indulged in acts that wasted essence, even though they knew it was pointless. It was no surprise that nothing was left.

“Hey, Half-wit…… no, Your Majesty. Do you really not know anything? Not even how to become the Queen?”

At Cliona’s question, Nika, who had been sitting on the floor in a daze, shook her head. Sighs of despair filled the room.

As the last glimmer of hope faded, Cliona, the most senior succubus, was about to close her eyes in resignation when suddenly—

“What?! What is it?!”

Suddenly, a deep shadow appeared in the room, interrupting the succubi’s despair. They jumped and looked out the window, startled.

Outside, a massive white flame soared into the sky.

The heat was so intense that it not only melted the windows but also the marble that made up the castle. A blast of hot air followed, causing the succubi near the windows to scream and run to the other side of the room.

The white flame devoured a third of the room in just a few seconds before dissipating into the air. The succubi, who had almost been engulfed by the heat, rubbed their reddened skin, their faces a mix of pain and confusion.

“What just happened?”

“I don’t know…… Kirke doesn’t use magic like that……”

“Could it be someone else other than Lady Kirke……?”

“That’s ridiculous. What power could a human have? He’s not even the Sword Saint.”

“Wait, think about it. This is a place where the Demon King himself cast a barrier. For a human to enter here alone……”

Everyone’s eyes widened as they realized the implication.

Indeed, this castle was a prison maintained by a barrier cast directly by the Demon King himself. The very fact that someone had dared to intrude here was proof enough that he was an extraordinarily skilled individual.

In that moment, a single thought flashed through the minds of the succubi:

“……Then, doesn’t he have a lot of essence? And it must be incredibly delicious……”

“……!!!!!!”

As if struck by lightning, the succubi trembled. Someone swallowed hard, their mouths watering.

They had been starving for both essence and pleasure, and now the greatest delicacy had come to them of its own accord. Their starving wombs ached.

“Don’t you have any self-respect……? After the way he treated us like fools, you’d still spread your legs for him……?!”

Cliona rebuked them, but no one listened. Her own voice was heated, and she was rubbing her thighs together, undermining her attempt at persuasion.

Having been so hungry for so long, the succubi had erased all fear and doubt from their minds. They began to discuss how they could seduce this human and satisfy their desires.

“……”

In the midst of their rising lustful desires, Nika quietly stood up.