Charmed

[Mini Boss – Alicia, Succubus Of Lust

Demon - Lvl 10.

Class - One Of The Seven Sins

Affinity - Demonic/Charm

—

HP - 728/619

ATK - 73/73

ACN - 54/54

LUC - 0/0

AGL - 37/37

STM - 90/90

DEF - 29/29

DEX - 61/61

Skills - Basic Charm; Advanced Charm; Lustful Expression.]

The demon was wearing rather revealing clothes, which suited her title and status. Her skin was pale and beautiful, and her hair was long, black and silky. She had a lot of layers on, but that didn't stop her from showing a lot of that pale skin of hers. As she finally stepped away from the elevated throne, the Blank closed out only – to be replaced by a smaller one, summarizing the only important thing that Kim cared about.

{Alicia –

HP - 728/619}

And as Alicia kept walking closer to the two, she waved her hand in the air – summoning a scythe out of thin air, forming in her palm. Said scythe was a very shiny yet dark crimson, and it had a metallic hint to it – it was most likely some kind of blood. She started spinning it all around herself, her steps towards the duo unwavering still. Kim also stepped up with a sour expression on his face, as he rolled up the sleeves of his jacket. He cracked his knuckles and neck, getting ready to fight – barehanded, if needed. As the two kept taking steps towards each other, Alicia couldn't help but chuckle at his courage.

As Kim raised an eyebrow at her in annoyance and confusion, Alicia suddenly threw her weapon full force to the side, and the scythe soon stuck in a nearby wall. She took of her mini jacket and also threw it in a random direction somewhere behind her, as she raised her hands, fists held tight. Now, it was Kim's turn to chuckle, as he soiled his feet in the ground and took on a more speedy stance, leaned in and ready to take off at any second – if needed.

Alicia also fixed her footing, ready to fight fair and square, hand to hand. As the two were in this standoff – this battle to the death – Felix silently slipped out of the spotlight, hiding in the shadows and staying as far away from the center of the room as possible. Now, back to the action, Kim is still holding his quick but defensive stance, while Alicia looks rather impatient. Soon enough, she takes one step forwards, and before Kim can even properly see her, she's already next to him with her fist raised high, ready to strike at any millisecond.

{"She's fast...?!"}

Kim just barely managed to block her attack with one hand and counter with the other, only to get blocked himself. The two jump back, with Kim holding his defensive stance up, just in case she would do another trick like the last one. He started thinking about why exactly she was so fast, though nothing good came to mind, at least yet. When thinking back to her stats and skills, her agility was similar to his... So why was she that fast? Kim wasn't sure he could've went as fast as her, even at his max speed.

After what felt like enough waiting on her part, Alicia charged him again, and as he blocked another one of her punches, she noticed the expression on her face – and that's when it hit him. It had to be that {Lustful Expression} skill of hers. Kim would've never thought that it was a self-buff, but now that he knew... he had an idea. As he managed to push her away once again and gain some distance, Kim patiently waited again, even lowering his stance and defense. Alicia smirked as she saw this, and once again appeared besides him in less than a second, but surprisingly, Kim didn't raise his hand to block this time around – he didn't even flinch at this. Instead, he crouched down below her fist, and Alicia couldn't help but break her expression in shock as she noticed, causing her buff to dispel and her reaction to stagger. Kim, from down below, finally raised up, punching the demon straight in the jaw, making her fall back.

Oh, but he didn't stop there.

Kim grabbed her shirt, holding it tight, and started punching and kicking away at the demon, to wherever and whatever he saw. Punch after punch and kick after kick, Alicia's beautiful and perfect skin soon became tainted by blood and bruises – but Kim hardly cared, as he just kept hitting her on repeat. Finally, and unfortunately, as his grip of her accidentally released, Alicia managed to punch him away, and on top of that, Kim tripped on something on the ground and fell backwards, clicking his tongue. His brain immediately caught up to the situation and as he fell, his whole body twisted around and he caught himself with his hands. Kim then pushed them into the ground to stabilize himself as his legs swung upwards, kicking Alicia with his right leg – full power.

Alicia screeched and jumped back as far as she could muster, breathing heavily as she tried to recover some stamina. Her visible wounds healed up as her pale skin became perfect once again, but Kim knew the damage was already done – thanks to a neat little window sitting somewhere above her quietly.

{Alicia –

HP - 481/619}

As Kim got up, he spit some blood on the floor and wiped the corner of his mouth with his hand, chuckling. He re-rolled his sleeves up, and spoke as he did so, "What's wrong, miss, never took beatings as a child?"

Alicia chuckled too, and finally talked for the first time – almost hissing at Kim, "Your tongue sure is sharp, human... But it's not gonna be sharper than my blade."

Then, Alicia started laughing as she raised her hand up high, waiting for her scythe to reappear in her hand, so she could finally finish this fight off. Though, she waited and waited, but... nothing happened. Annoyed, Alicia yelled out – not any words, just random angry sounds and grunts – and threw her gaze to where her scythe was supposedly stuck in, only to be met by a long, thin hole in the wall where her scythe probably once stood. Her mouth dropped, and Kim couldn't help but actually laugh out loud at this, covering his mouth to stop it, but not doing that good of a job.

Alicia looked back in his direction, blushing in embarrassment, anger and another five random emotions, as she yelled at him, "Stop laughing, you asshole! I'll murder you!"

Kim, though, couldn't help but laugh even harder, slapping his knee in the process. Wiping a tear away from his eye, he spoke in-between laughs, "You and what weapon?"

Alicia, tired of his disrespect, shoved her feet in the ground hard and raised her hands in an X formation, as she started chanting something. This caused Kim to stop laughing, and he quickly fixed his stance – but he soon clicked his tongue and relaxed his hands, as they fell besides him.

{"Judging by the cast time and everything else, it's probably her best skill... Meaning..."}

And, he was right – just as he thought that, Alicia finished casting as she yelled out "{Advanced Charm!}" and a pink beam quickly escaped from her hands – going right by his heart, piercing it. Kim took a step back, with an annoyed and shocked expression on his face as he checked himself for any injuries. And while his physical body was completely fine, his brain was foggy – he soon heard a "Ding!" sound somewhere besides him, and he immediately turned his head towards it, checking it.

{You've been put under the effects of Charm magic! Use the {Purify} skill or a Purifier to rid yourself of thoughts that aren't yours!}

Kim let out a "Tch." as he clicked his tongue, stabilizing his footing while thinking about just what to do. Suddenly, he had an idea – a stupid idea that was based on nothing but luck, but one that might've just worked. Kim raised both of his hands up, towards the demon, his expression changing between rationality and confusion rapidly, as he tried to stay in control of his brain.

Alicia chuckled, stepping closer and closer to Kim as she spoke in a degrading tone, "What's wrong, baby, can't control your feelings, can you? Don't worry... Let me take care of you..."

"Eat shit, Alicia."

"Hah...?!"

Right by Kim's hands appeared two blue Blanks, and his hands flew in as grabbed onto something, and tightly. As he slowly pulled them out, blue sparks flew everywhere around him, surrounding the whole area in what looked like lightning – yet didn't carry all the voltage. As his hands finally left the Blanks, in them stood two dark blades – they were a black so dark, you could mistake them for a black hole. Their handles were the exact opposite, as they shone a white whiter than even that which sits in-between Floors. Kim was the owner of the Abyss Daggers.

As they finally fully escaped the blue window, the lightning cut out and his hands no longer looked like they were in slow motion. Kim held the two daggers proudly, and soon he spun them around a bit, inspecting them while muttering "Not bad..." and flipping them on all sides. His gaze soon fell back on Alicia, and it was full of nothing but hate and anger. The demon shuddered and jumped back, feeling intense amounts of bloodlust from the man.

As she did, she spread her hands wide like wings, only for an actual pair of crimson wings to appear on her back. She kept her distance, afraid of what the man might've and could've done to her if she let him get close once again. Her scythe still wasn't responding to her, which was only annoying her more and more. Kim started walking towards her again, and Alicia felt threatened once again, so she readied herself by revealing her sharp nails – her only actual weapon, given her scythe was who knows where.

As Kim was stepping closer and closer to Alicia, he was randomly slashing at the air in front and around him, getting used to the daggers and their weight. He did all kinds of combinations of slashes, especially since he wasn't used to using two handed weapons, and when he thought he'd done a decent amount of training, he put the right one into his left hand – which was now holding both of them – as he threw them high up into the air. Alicia was quite stunned at this, shocked – after all, why would he disarm himself? Her gaze followed the daggers upwards, and she watched as they then slowly lost momentum and fell.

They soon fell to the floor's level, only for them to disappear into nothingness. This only confused the demon further, until she realized that not only did the daggers dissolve into the shadows, so did Kim. She looked around frantically, trying to find the man, until she felt something behind her – a bloodlust so intense, she could've probably even felt it if she was just a human. Immediately, she turned around with her hand pointed straight, and she yelled out with her whole lungs as quickly as possible, "{Basic Charm!}"

Kim immediately froze, his daggers only inches away from Alicia's neck. That, combined with the {Advanced Charm} from earlier, made his brain really fuzzy and foggy, to the point where he could barely have two thoughts of his own without being interrupted. With whatever force he had left in him, he jumped away from the demon and tried to stand his ground, only for his legs to tremble terribly, more than he thought they even could. He fell on one knee with a grunt of annoyance and struggle, as he tried to stab his sword into the ground and raise himself up, only to realize he wasn't wielding a sword. Kim sighed and he dropped the two daggers on the ground, as they disappeared into two blue windows back into his inventory. As he stood on the ground, annoyed, he couldn't help but look up at her current HP.

{Alicia –

HP - 436/619}

As Kim read that he chuckled slightly, holding his head, as it was throbbing in pain. He spoke, although barely, "Heh, you... lose health when using charmy... magic..."

It was becoming evident that Kim's judgement was getting more than just clouded, as his mouth and movements were sluggish beyond recognition. He punched the ground – quite softly, because that's all he could muster – and tried to get up. While he did succeed, his knees were still trembling like hell, and he could barely keep himself upwards. His thoughts were slowly not his own anymore, as whenever he tried to think of ways to kill Alicia, all he could imagine and think about was ways to make her happy and content – then he clicked his tongue, by mere muscle reflex. Alicia couldn't help but chuckle at Kim's state, and by a single movement of her hand in the air she sent another wave of invasive thoughts in his brain – thoughts that didn't belong there, that he would've never had by himself. Kim grabbed his head in both hands, grunting in pain and annoyance.

Alicia came closer and closer to him, and as she did, she tapped his forehead slightly, making Kim fall on his knees once again – this time on both of them. She chuckled and slowly brought his chin up, looking him straight in the eye with a wicked smirk on her face. Kim's brain was full of conflicting thoughts, half of them telling him to stab Alicia to death over and over again and the other telling him to jump in her embrace with a smile. He couldn't tell his own thoughts from the fake ones anymore, and he wasn't even sure if he was angry at that or not. Kim just let her toy with his face however she wanted, but again, he didn't know if he was okay with it or not. After turning it on all sides, Alicia couldn't help but chuckle to herself as she finally realized she's got herself a pretty handsome plaything.

She let go of Kim's chin as his gaze lowered in the ground. His eyes were blank and dead, unsure of what was real and what wasn't – unsure if his current feelings were his own, or just fakes. He tried getting up again, only for his knees to betray him and fall back down to the ground with a loud thud. Kim soon sat down completely, still on his knees, his hands sitting relaxed on his lap – a stance which he learned from his grandfather, as he was really keen on making sure Kim stayed in touch with his Asian origin. Although, was this his own doing, or was this the demon's will? He didn't know. Was he supposed to? Because he didn't. Who was he thinking about again...? He didn't even remember... why he was here in the first place. Where was he, exactly? When looking up and seeing Alicia's face, he realized – he must've been home. That explained it. Surely, she was his whole world, his home. Right? Right.

Kim's eyes grew darker and darker – darker than ever before, even if his eyes were already black to begin with – and lifeless, being filled by a void where all of his will to fight and survive once stood. He didn't want to fight. How could he fight the love of his life? That was just cruel. That was terrifying. But, didn't he already hurt her? He did. He had to pay. Kim raised his right hand, and a Blank appeared next to it. Then, he reached into it and pulled out a single Abyss Dagger. He soon pointed it at his own stomach, ready to make the man who made the love of his life suffer. Wait, but... who made her suffer again? Who exactly was he stabbing? He... didn't remember. Was he supposed to? This was all so confusing... Well, he came this far, right? Might as well.

As Kim slowly pushed the knife against his own stomach, piercing his clothes bit by bit, he looked up at Alicia one more – or last – time. His eyes widened ever so slightly as he looked not at her, but behind the demon. For a split second, his hand paused, as he remembered everything – as he remembered the reason he was here in the first place. The reason he didn't stop climbing The Line on the very first Floor.

Right behind her stood a great threat, nothing short of the worse kind of demon. His eyes were full of anger and will to kill, yet no bloodlust whatsoever – hence why Alicia couldn't sense him in the first place. A green streak shadowed wherever his eyes moved, making them the only visible thing in the shadows behind Alicia – but Kim knew he was there, and he would've known without the streak either way.

As Alicia saw that Kim stopped halfway through killing himself, she raised an eyebrow confused and annoyed. She then chuckled, covering her mouth with one hand as she did so, "What's wrong, sweetie, your friend left you and you're just now realizing? Worry not, for I'll find him too... sooner or later."

The next second, Alicia saw her own scythe being placed on her shoulder, with the blade pointed straight at her neck. Everything went quiet, as her eyes widened and she wasn't even sure if her heart was beating anymore, or if blood was flowing in her veins still. She could finally feel all the immense bloodlust coming from directly behind her, and in the corner of her eyes, she could've sworn she saw a hint of green. She soon heard a voice speak – one so heavy and monotone, she wasn't sure it wasn't Satan himself talking to her.

"And what if he finds you first?"

The scythe soon started heading backwards quickly, and all sound in the room completely cut as silence overflowed, quickly filling the cave. This complete and heavy silence was soon replaced with one single "Ding!"

Followed by blood splatter, the sound of something fleshy hitting the ground next to them, with blood soon spreading all around it, further followed by a bigger thing hitting the ground soon after.

[Critical Hit.]

They say that the human head can continue functioning up to twenty second after decapitation. Must be even longer for demons – meaning that Alicia had plenty of time to muster up her last words.

"De... mon..."

As Felix raised his foot high above her head, he couldn't help but finally break his deadly expression and laugh out loud for a few seconds, before quickly going stoic once again and speaking in a bored tone, "Ironic." and the last thing Alicia ever saw was the heel of a shoe, and two bright green eyes followed by a wicked smile stolen straight from the king of hell.

As soon as Alicia was out of commission, Kim's brain started clearing up of all of the impostor thoughts – although his headache wasn't completely gone yet. Kim dropped the dagger again as it faded into his inventory, and he sat up with a loud grunt, still holding his head with one hand. His vision came back slowly as he rubbed the bridge of his nose, and his gaze wandered off, ending up on Alicia's headless body. It soon went to the missing head of said body, then back up at the artist of this "masterpiece." Felix stood right by the head and body, holding up the scythe behind his neck, resting his arms around the huge handle of it. He raised an eyebrow as he saw Kim's confused expression and asked, "Wassup?"

"...I had it."

"Was that before or after you were down on your knees for a demon?"

"I... was working on it."

As Felix stepped over the demon's lifeless corpse, he stopped halfway through and held the scythe properly, diving its blade straight into where he predicted Alicia's heart was. He sighed, and pulled it out, then began walking towards the now empty, deserted throne. Kim soon followed him as he asked, "Why'd you do that?"

"No Blank. Meaning the fight wasn't over yet. Ah, also, in three... two..."

As a "Ding!" sound echoed in Felix's head, he nodded and kept walking, glancing at the Blank briefly as he did so.

[Mini Boss – Alicia, Succubus Of Lust - Defeated!

MVC - Kim Jaehyun

LVC - Felix Fox

Reward - Concentrated Demon Blood (Single or Double Handed).]

Felix clicked his tongue once he read he was LVC once again, but raised an eyebrow as he saw the scythe in his hands shake and turn into a small ball, as he let out an "Oooh." and threw it into his inventory – as thankfully, it was his. Kim asked confused, "What happened to the demon's scythe?"

"It's, uh, customizable? Like... uh, like water, y'know, it doesn't have a set form? It can take on any shape and stuff?"

"That's... rather convenient."

"Yeah – not that I mind though..."

Another two dings soon followed the one from before, but this time for Felix only. He threw a look at the two green Blanks, half annoyed and half confused.

[Congratulations on completing the Plot and assassinating Alicia. Godspeed!]

[{(Congratulations on unlocking 'One Bomb Man'! You're the first player to deal over 400 DMG in one attack! You achieved the 'Bomber' title!)}]

["What's this, a title...? What's it do, exactly? Argh, whatever..."]

Felix waved the two Blanks away, mostly annoyed at them. He wasn't aware that he already owned two titles – and he wouldn't have really cared either way. As the two finally reached the demon's throne, they saw their weapons sitting by it on a small wooden table. Kim felt a vein pop up on his head in anger as he spoke, "All we had to do was have someone distract the demon... while someone stole our equipment back... Goddamn it..."

"Hey, you're the one who charged in. 'Left, right, goodnight' style and everything."

"Shut up... Five times consecutive LVC..."

"I saved your ass, don't act so cocky..."

The two grabbed their stuff and started heading towards another hole in the wall, although this one was glowing white. They were still arguing about the fight, and as they approached the hole, another Blank opened up – similar to the one from the previous Floor.

[Third Floor, Demon's Lair, clear! Would you like to advance to the Fourth Floor, The Ball Invitation, or return to the Resting Grounds?

1/2]

In their arguing, both of them just yelled out "One, now shut it!" at the same time – as if it was something that should've been rather obvious – then went right back to being at each other's throats. The Blank just closed up silently, and as the two stepped through the white light, it soon surrounded them as they were officially headed to the Fourth Floor – whatever this Ball Invitation was.