"Grand Elder, my purpose here is simple," Soren said, voice steady.
"I came to the Abyssal Plane to deal with Mephisto. That task is done. I'll be leaving soon. If fate allows, perhaps I'll visit your succubus territory another time."
Truthfully, he had no intention of walking into a nest of seductive mind-readers.
The elder smiled, not releasing even a sliver of charm intentionally, yet the curve of her lips still hit like a soft blow.
Soren's thoughts flickered for half a heartbeat before he forced himself to steady.
"Soren," She murmured, her tone weightless but impossibly precise, "You and I both know Mephisto isn't dead."
His chest tightened for an instant. Her words slipped past his guard like a whisper against the ear…
"Do you really intend," She continued softly, "To leave such a threat lurking in the dark?"
Soren exhaled sharply through his nose. Infuriating, and too perceptive for comfort.
"You're impressive," He admitted. "Really. But tell me…" his eyes narrowed slightly, "Are you so certain you can drag me along just because you speak my name?"
Her smile remained, serene and confident, as though she already knew his next ten thoughts.
That was when Soren's mind stirred.
He didn't lash out or didn't posture.
He simply activated the Mind Gem's power, letting its mental shield envelop him in an instant.
The elder's smile shattered.
Her eyes widening ever so slightly, the first time her poise had cracked since she arrived. Her gift mind reading, emotional sensing, subtle manipulation, slammed into a wall harder than diamond.
And for the first time, she could not see him.
A flicker of alarm rippled across her features before she smoothed it away, but Soren had caught it. He had finally found the boundary she couldn't cross.
Good.
Very good.
He stepped toward her unhurried. The elder was tall, graceful, but he still towered slightly over her. When he stopped, they were nearly chest-to-chest, breath mingling in the heated air of the abyss.
Soren tilted his head.
"Well then," He said, a faint tease curled under the seriousness, "Lead the way, Grand Elder. It's hard to refuse someone as breathtaking as you."
The Grand Elder had barely recovered from the strange disruption she'd sensed earlier when Soren breath brushed against her skin. For the first time in a very long while, the ever-composed Elder...
She stumbled back two steps, eyes rippling with something dangerously close to alarm.
Soren tilted his head, amusement tugging at the corner of his mouth.
"Come on now. I don't think I'm that ugly. Why are you looking at me like I crawled out of your worst nightmare?"
Her expression flickered surprise, suspicion, then a near-instinctive attempt to reclaim her poise. A moment later the familiar, intoxicating smile slid back into place, the one that made weaker minds fold like paper.
"Let's go, Soren," She purred, voice smooth again. "Elders of the succubus race cannot engage in… intimacy with men."
"But our clan has many young, beautiful succubi. If any of them happen to catch your eye, I certainly won't object."
Before Soren could decide how to respond to that bizarre offer, she seized him by the arm, not roughly, but with surprising urgency and pulled him up into the air.
Her wings unfurled with a sharp snap, and the two of them shot through the smoke-choked sky.
Soren blinked.
Is she seriously trying to recruit me with… women?
This was his first time dealing with a succubus elder, and he still had no idea why she was so intent on winning his favor.
The demons of this plane were unpredictable, but this level of attention felt… targeted.
She flew fast. Faster than he expected.
The magma fields below blurred into rivers of molten red, and in moments the flame demon territories were far behind them.
The demons still lingering on the battlefield shivered as Soren's presence vanished. They had watched him clash with Mephisto, watched the Lord of Flames be forced to burn his own body, watched him flee in ashes and every single one of them had been convinced they were next.
Only when Soren disappeared beyond the horizon did the flame demons dare to breathe again.
Soren exhaled lightly. "So, elder. You know my name, but I still don't know yours. Do you actually have one, or is 'Elder' your preferred title?"
She hesitated for the briefest moment, then answered with a sound… long, lilting, and so warped by demonic resonance that it stabbed straight into Soren's skull.
His mind rang as if struck with a bell.
"That," She said with a serene smile, "Is my true name. In the demon tongue. You would not understand even if I repeated it a hundred times. So you may continue calling me Great Elder."
Soren massaged his temple, grimacing. "Right. Shouldn't have asked."
He shifted the topic before she could unleash another linguistic concussion.
"Anyway, Elder… since the succubus clan prides itself on glimpsing the future, maybe you can answer something useful."
"Where is Mephisto?"
"No." Her answer came instantly, without a trace of hesitation.
Soren frowned. "Why? Don't tell me it's because he's an Abyss Lord and you're forbidden from betraying him."
"Incorrect," She replied calmly. "First, Mephisto has spent an incredible amount of power hiding his tracks."
"Even I cannot pierce the veils he's wrapped around himself. Second I told you already, there are countless futures. We succubi are not gods. We see possibilities, not certainties."
"The future twists the moment it is touched.".