Ascension of the Nephilim

Breveros laughed and laughed at how his ingenious plan worked.

He was meticulous in his planning as this was his only way to climb up the ladder of success. Had it not been for his sharp mind, he would not have been able to rise to the very position of power he was in. While he wasn't as strong and renowned as his brother, he still drew a decent amount of respect, and his strategies and opinions were highly valuable to his brother.

He paid careful attention to the news of the wars in the Lowlands. He saw how kingdoms grew strong and how armies made a push.

The Lowland kingdoms were even as bold as to claim that they would move to the Midlands!

Under the pretense that many Midland nations were secretly aligned with the orcs, two kingdoms demanded entry to the Midlands.

And strangely enough, it was granted by the Princess of the Highlands!

Princess Listrel Protos Endoxos had allowed the two kingdoms to move in, and she claimed that her recent disappearance was tied to these two kingdoms!

But Breveros knew that there was something more to this! He believed that the Incubus, Cracky Batcheeks, had met Listrel and influenced or tricked her into allowing these two kingdoms to start moving in!

"You were sent here ahead of him, weren't you?" Breveros asked.

"While he moved to the Black Bog Kingdom, you were sent to assassinate me!"

Nightwing ignored the ongoing monologue of victory and stepped into a random door. Nightwing knew that all doors would leave to the same place if Breveros willed it. The doors were meant to keep everyone separated. While Nightwing had no means of seeing through the illusion, he was confident he didn't need to.

Nightwing lost all fear and worry as he confirmed what Breveros thought happened.

Through luck, it was Angelian who peered into the tower first. Through luck, she remained standing when even he stumbled. All this made every enemy inside the fortress believe that Angelian was their leader.

Nightwing stepped into the door and vanished into a palace of great ice! The cold wind surprised Nightwing as he could feel the sudden temperature change.

"What an amazing illusion! It seems so real that it tricks the brain into thinking it's real!" Nightwing praised.

"This has got to be the work of a Code or Corruption... I have to find a way to get it from the enemy!" Nightwing decided.

The room was divided into different elements, and several Cardinals stood there with their weapons drawn in their corresponding elemental affinity.

Nightwing sighed in pity. He hoped it wasn't the case, but seeing the enemies, Nightwing confirmed that his theories were right.

Breveros sneered as he saw Nightwing enter. He stood behind the changing walls, unseen to Nightwing. Only the Cardinals could see him since they were controlling the illusory world.

Breveros had no use for these strong cultivators even when three of the Cardinals were among the top ten strongest within Breveros's control. They were the perfect counter for the 'assassin' he believed Cracky Batcheeks would send.

He gathered the strongest women and made them his guards to counter a succubus. As a result, the entire tower had nothing but strong women!

"Let's see you seduce my servants, Succubus! These are women of great might in the army!" Breveros laughed.

Nightwing could only shake his head.

"He was very careful, but luck was against him. He trapped us and ordered his other servants to give way so we could easily march into the room where the trap was set. He prepared a tower to counter a succubus... Did it not occur to him that it could have been an incubus if I could send an assassin? Why did he believe that it had to be a succubus?" Nightwing secretly pondered.

Then the faces of two great beauties came to mind.

"Ah... Of course. The succubus wives of my other self... Kyros! Because I managed to kiss other women, they are probably raising hell to get here. It's possible that Eldrich's wide network allowed him to deduce this..." Nightwing sighed and raised his sword and shield. He was not using his dark form but was harnessing various objects of light to hide his identity.

"Minion of the Succubus! You look like a Paladin Knight! You are a fool!" One of the Cardinals laughed. The Cardinal is an Ogre Magi who wields great lava energy.

"A Paladin that allows himself to be corrupted by a succubus! How foolish!" Another Cardinal laughed. The Cardinal is a human necromancer with a terrifying frost gathering.

The other cardinals, two vampires, a siren, a Grendelor, and a Shade-Human hybrid, all mocked Nightwing.

"Not a Lich among them... If any of them abandoned the flesh, they would be able to resist my Incubus charms. I'm not lucky. Breveros is just so unlucky. I wonder why Destiny would do this. I have used Mysterion to hide my presence as a Fate Challenger so that Destiny might have underestimated the threat. In reality, Destiny still wants this man alive but has no desire to give him more power than he should... Why?" Nightwing continued to ponder as he took several steps closer. He didn't even have his guard up as he was confident in the opponent's bad luck.

The walking Paladin, that looked dazed and distracted, confirmed what Breveros and the cardinals believed.

"What a stupid puppet..."

"Ugh. Men like him, who chases every skirt, are useless."

"Let me bite him." One of the Vampires smiled.

The ice of terrifying energy gathered around Nightwing.

The power surpassed that of Crowns! Nightwing could even see the limitations set by the gods and devils to add great limits to the powers beyond Crowns appear.

Nightwing felt the cold energy appear and freeze him in the legs.

"The ice is real. That Cardinal must be using her magic against me. But the illusion makes it look like I am being attacked with Crown-surpassing energy." Nightwing did move and pretended to have been frozen.

All of a sudden, Nightwing began to panic.

"What?! Where?! No! Please! Don't kill me! My queen! The enemy is here! My queen!" Nightwing shouted and pretended to call out to Angelian.

"You fool. That succubus was a beauty. It even made me hate myself." The Vampire laughed as she approached.

"What?! Impossible! Even women fall to their knees at the sight of my queen!"

"You still call her your queen? She robbed you of your thinking and made you move in here! Perhaps to spy on what lies ahead! But this place's powers are too great for [Shared Vision] magic! As for your queen, we have already made preparations! The wisdom of our lord made us use a very simple yet powerful method that could easily defeat the powers of your queen's charms!" The vampire began to lick her lips as she approached.

"Not bad for a human! You're quite good-looking!"

"Ah... that method." Finally, Nightwing realized what it was. He could see the strange gazes of the vampire and could tell that this vampire didn't want just to drink his blood.

"He probably ordered them to take alchemy pills to make these Cardinals develop an intense desire for a male partner. He fought fire with fire, lust with lust. Admittedly, he was careful. Had Angelian not peeked out of the portal I made, and had not I stumbled, then he would have doubted that the enemy was a succubus. When they confirmed with certainty that a Succubus would be their enemy, they ate the pill of lust. Idiot. That Eldrich made me, an Incubus, enter a chamber of maidens so aroused I ought to bonk them and send them to jail." Nightwing sighed. He could easily take control of the group and command them to fight Breveros at this rate.

"If I were to pretend to desire a seat among Eldriches, I shouldn't kill too many of their minions at this stage. I guess I'll have to kill the one with the greatest potential in Destiny." Nightwing glanced at the others. For some reason, a strange vision would appear when he glanced at the siren.

It was as if he could see strange memories of how the siren caused great deaths and devastations. But in this vision, she was already a Crown. And the forces of the Highlands were in retreat at her power. In this vision, he could see an older man who looked like him challenge the Crown to a fight and was nearly defeated. The siren had a power similar to Succubus, and her voice would drive people mad.

"...Why does my past self have visions of the future?" Nightwing frowned. He realized that Kyros was hiding many mysterious things.

"I guess it's his way of telling me I should kill that girl... Too bad... She's quite beautiful. Not as beautiful as Angelian but more than Monica, Krysta, or Sherah. I guess I'll have some fun first." Nightwing sneered.

The vampire approached.

"Wait! Please! Before you kill me! You are right! She did betray! That bitch tricked me! Please! Let my death have meaning! Please! It will be beneath you, but let me kiss the siren! It will frustrate that bitch to see how I wanted another more than her!" Nightwing pleaded.