I Took A Succubus's First Time

Eriko swung her fist forward with tremendous force, while Kouhei simultaneously brought his sword around to meet her attack. Neither of them showed any intention of backing down, and their attacks collided directly in the middle of the courtyard with enough force to make the surrounding air tremble violently.

The pressure generated by the collision was powerful enough to rattle the exterior of the mansion, causing the walls and windows to shake from the impact. Loose pebbles and small stones scattered across the ground were pushed away from them, rolling and bouncing across the courtyard as though an invisible shockwave had swept through the area.

"Oh ho~!" Eriko chuckled with obvious excitement as she licked her lips, seemingly enjoying the confrontation far more than anyone reasonably should have enjoyed being punched at.

"Who...?" Kouhei muttered under his breath, still having absolutely no idea who this woman was or why she had suddenly decided to attack him without any explanation. He had never seen her before, at least as far as he could remember, and yet she was already throwing punches at him as though they had some personal grudge that he had somehow forgotten.

Since she had attacked him first, Kouhei had little choice but to defend himself, although he was still deliberately holding himself back because he did not want to seriously injure someone whose identity remained unknown to him.

"You sure seem like you’ve got some fuel left in you!" Eriko shouted with a grin, clearly delighted that Kouhei was still standing after their initial exchange. "But is that really enough to actually do anything against me, though?!"

Before Kouhei could answer, Eriko suddenly swung her leg sideways with tremendous speed.

Kouhei saw the movement a little too late.

He attempted to raise his guard, but his reaction was not fast enough to completely block the kick. At the last possible moment, he managed to coat the side of his body with mana, reinforcing himself against the impact and preventing Eriko’s attack from doing as much damage as it otherwise would have.

Even with the reinforcement, however, the sheer force behind her kick was enough to send Kouhei flying backward.

His feet left the ground, and his body was thrown several meters away before he managed to regain control of himself.

Kouhei did not take nearly as much damage as Eriko probably expected, though, and he quickly steadied himself before he could crash into anything behind him.

He barely had enough time to regain his bearings before Eriko was already moving again.

She charged toward him with frightening speed, her fist pulled back as she prepared to drive it directly into his face.

"GRrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!!!" Eriko growled as she rushed forward, her expression looking more like that of an excited animal than someone who was participating in an ordinary fight.

Kouhei reacted at the last possible moment.

Instead of trying to block the incoming punch directly, he shifted his body to the side, allowing Eriko’s fist to pass dangerously close to his face.

The attack missed him by only a few inches.

Kouhei immediately moved farther away, his eyes remaining fixed on the woman in front of him as he tried to understand what exactly he was dealing with.

’I don’t know who this person is... but is she an enemy?’ Kouhei wondered.

That question continued bothering him because he did not want to fight her seriously if she happened to be someone from the Yuka Faction.

He still had no idea what her relationship with them was, and attacking someone who might actually be an ally would create a completely unnecessary problem. Their current situation was already bad enough after discovering that Kozue was dying, so adding another conflict on top of everything else was the last thing Kouhei wanted.

At the same time, continuing to treat Eriko lightly could be just as dangerous.

What if she really was an enemy?

Would Kouhei simply stand there and allow her to run wild around the mansion while everyone else was already dealing with a crisis?

That would be irresponsible.

If he underestimated her and allowed the fight to continue, there was a possibility that she could cause serious damage to the mansion, the people around them, or even someone Kouhei cared about. Considering everything that had happened recently, the possibility of something going horribly wrong was simply too great to ignore.

Kouhei’s expression gradually changed.

The uncertainty in his eyes disappeared.

His body relaxed for only a moment before his mana began gathering around him.

He had finally decided to take the fight seriously.

The instant that happened, something inside Eriko reacted.

Her instincts suddenly screamed at her.

The warning was so intense that her entire body practically froze in place.

’W-What...? Why is my body suddenly frozen all of a sudden?’ Eriko thought, staring at Kouhei in confusion.

She could not understand what was happening.

There was an unfamiliar sensation crawling through her body, something far more primal than ordinary fear. It was the kind of instinctive warning that existed for one simple purpose, which was to tell her when she was facing something she should absolutely avoid.

Something deep inside her was telling her that continuing this fight would be a terrible idea.

In fact, the warning was even more extreme than that.

Her instincts were practically screaming that continuing forward could get her killed.

Unfortunately, Eriko was far too stubborn to listen to them.

Her body was instinctively telling her to tuck her tail between her legs and run away while she still had the opportunity, but her mind wanted to do the exact opposite.

She wanted to fight.

She wanted to see how strong Kouhei actually was.

Most importantly, she wanted to see what would happen if she pushed him even further.

Rather than becoming frightened by the warning, Eriko’s blood began boiling with excitement.

’Oh, I see...’ she thought.

Her eyes narrowed slightly as she stared at Kouhei.

’This guy... is serious!’

That realization completely changed how she looked at the situation.

Kouhei had finally stopped treating her like someone he merely needed to defend himself against.

He was taking her seriously.

For Eriko, that was practically an invitation.

She immediately ran toward him again.

This time, her fist was coated with far more power than before.

Mana gathered around her arm, becoming denser and more concentrated as she prepared to throw another punch. The amount of energy surrounding her fist was clearly several times greater than what she had used during their previous exchanges.

Kouhei responded in kind.

Mana surged through his body before gathering around the sword in his hand.

The amount of mana he poured into the weapon was so enormous that the energy began overflowing from it, spilling outward in waves and distorting the air surrounding the blade.

Eriko made a straight beeline toward him.

Kouhei remained where he was.

He waited.

Neither of them slowed down.

The distance between them rapidly disappeared, and it looked as though their next attacks were about to collide with considerably more force than anything they had done before.

Then, just as the two of them were about to clash, something suddenly stopped Kouhei.

"Huh?" Kouhei muttered.

His body became completely frozen.

Eriko experienced the same interruption, although she managed to stop her fist just before it reached Kouhei’s face.

Her fist remained suspended only a few inches away from him.

"What the hell...?" Eriko muttered, staring at her own hand before looking toward the entrance.

That was when she noticed Ruri.

Ruri was standing there, using her time manipulation ability to stop Kouhei.

"Ruri! What the fuck have you done?!" Eriko shouted, immediately becoming annoyed. "We were almost getting to the bones of the exciting part, and you went ahead and ruined it!"

Ruri could not respond.

She could not even hear Eriko’s complaint.

Her own time had been stopped as well, meaning that from her perspective, the entire world had become frozen around her.

She could only see Kouhei.

Chiemi looked toward Ruri.

Then she looked at Eriko.

Finally, her eyes settled on Kouhei.

It was Chiemi who had told Ruri to stop Kouhei with her time manipulation.

Ruri had not wanted to interfere at first, because she had been curious about where the fight between Kouhei and Eriko would lead. Still, Chiemi had specifically ordered her to stop him, and since Chiemi was the one giving the warning, Ruri understood that something serious must have happened.

Ruri had no idea what Chiemi had seen.

If she had to guess, however, it probably had something to do with Chiemi’s mysterious ability.

Ruri still did not know the exact nature of that ability, and honestly, it had only made her more curious. Yuka trusted Chiemi tremendously, far more than Ruri would have expected someone to trust another person whose abilities remained so mysterious.

That alone was enough to make Ruri interested in finding out what Chiemi could actually do.

Meanwhile, Chiemi continued staring at Kouhei.

Her expression became increasingly tense as she processed what she had seen.

’This guy...’ she thought.

’If Ruri hadn’t stopped him, he would literally kill Eriko.’

The thought sent an unpleasant chill through her.

Chiemi was not guessing.

Her ability was the reason she had reached that conclusion.

She could tell that something about Kouhei had changed the instant he decided to take Eriko seriously.

’He’s dangerous... and powerful.’

Chiemi’s eyes remained fixed on him.

’He’s even more powerful than Eriko... and possibly even Yuka...’

Her breathing became slightly more tense.

’Now I understand the reason why that Souichiro lost to him...’

Chiemi had been frightened before, but this was different.

She was now genuinely terrified of Kouhei.

The man standing in front of her was someone she had previously been unable to properly measure, and now that she had seen what happened when he actually became serious, she finally understood just how dangerous he could be.

Yet there was something else that frightened her even more.

While she was watching Kouhei, she noticed his eyes move.

His body remained completely frozen.

His sword remained suspended.

Even his breathing seemed frozen under Ruri’s ability.

His eyes, however, moved.

Kouhei’s gaze slowly shifted toward Chiemi.

Then it moved toward Ruri.

Chiemi’s expression immediately changed.

’That’s impossible!’

She stared at him in disbelief.

’If you were under Ruri’s ability, there should be absolutely no way for you to move at all, not even something as small as your eyes! How the hell...?!’

She could not understand it.

Ruri’s ability was supposed to completely stop time.

Kouhei should not have been able to move.

Yet somehow, his eyes had moved anyway.

"What is going on here?"

A voice suddenly came from the entrance.

Yuka had finally appeared.

Her arrival immediately changed the atmosphere.

Yuka first looked toward Eriko, whose fist was still stopped only inches away from Kouhei’s face.

Then she looked toward Kouhei.

Finally, her gaze shifted toward Ruri.

She quickly assessed the situation, taking in the frozen positions of everyone involved before seemingly understanding what had happened.

"I see..." Yuka said quietly.

Her voice was calm, and there was no obvious anger in her expression.

That somehow made her presence feel even more intimidating.

"Eriko..." Yuka said.

Although her voice contained no outright anger, there was absolutely no warmth in it either.

Eriko immediately looked toward her.

The moment she saw Yuka’s expression, her confidence seemed to disappear almost instantly.

"Mew..." Eriko made a small cat-like sound, suddenly looking considerably less enthusiastic about continuing the fight.

Yuka then turned her attention toward Chiemi.

"Unfreeze both of them," she said calmly.

Chiemi nodded and walked toward Ruri.

She placed one hand on Ruri, and that physical contact was enough for Ruri to understand what she needed to do.

Ruri’s time manipulation finally came to an end.

The frozen world returned to normal.

Sound came rushing back.

Movement resumed.

Kouhei could move again.

Eriko could finally lower her fist.

Ruri could finally perceive what was happening around her again.

Ruri could neither see nor hear anything normally while her own time was stopped, but she could still feel physical contact when someone touched her. Because of that, Chiemi touching her was enough to tell her that she could safely release her ability.

The moment she did so, however, Ruri suddenly felt something warm running down from her nose.

She reached up and touched it.

Her fingers came away covered in blood.

Her nose had started bleeding.