Chapter 12: TBSL

Chapter 12

Shion Clausen cursed everything—his father who had made him this way, the mother who had given birth to him, and the entire world.

In a hell he could never escape from no matter how hard he tried, he slowly rotted away.

Just in case—just in the slightest chance—he looked into it.

But the result was exactly what he expected.

There were cases where people with relatively poor mana sensitivity improved it through relentless effort, but there had never been a single case of someone with absolutely no mana sensitivity developing it later.

Which made sense.

Having zero mana sensitivity was practically the same as an incurable disease.

It was only natural that it couldn't be cured.

"Damn it..."

Collapsed over his desk, Shion muttered irritably.

He searched through every book related to mana and even the history books of the entire continent, looking for even the slightest possibility that someone without mana sensitivity could change.

But there was nothing.

Just like in the novel, and just as the author had said, those who couldn't handle mana had no choice but to live with it like an incurable illness until the day they died.

'I'm going to have to face monsters on Sebastian's level, or even Rai's level, and I can't even use mana? This is like running through a battlefield full of bullets wearing nothing but a pair of underwear.'

If you couldn't fire a gun, you should at least wear body armor and a helmet.

But in his case, even a graze meant instant death.

After struggling desperately to find an answer that didn't exist, Shion finally gave up.

Trying to solve an unsolvable problem had naturally overloaded his brain.

'This is driving me crazy. I didn't think being unable to use mana would be this crippling.'

For a moment, he wondered if he could become someone like Kim Yuhyun through sheer effort.

But Kim Yuhyun was an existence beyond all standards, blessed with protagonist privileges.

Meanwhile, Shion was little more than a trash bag that even a landfill wouldn't accept.

Even in novels, there were things effort alone could accomplish—and things it couldn't.

Damn it.

Life was always like that.

After leaving the library, Shion spent his time meaninglessly, just as the original owner of the body had.

Of course, he kept chanting in his mind:

'I want to become stronger. I want to become stronger. I want to become stronger.'

But it was like praying five seconds before Christmas arrived:

"Please let me get a girlfriend on Christmas Eve."

In other words, there was absolutely no chance of it happening.

'I want to become stronger. I want to become stronger.'

While staying in his room all afternoon.

'Mana, mana, mana, mana.'

Even while eating dinner.

'I want to live. I want to live. I want to live.'

Even while showering.

'Power, power, power, power, power! Pooooower!'

Until the moment he finally went to bed.

His mind was filled with that single thought.

If he couldn't use mana, could something else replace it?

What if being mana-deficient wasn't an incurable condition but some kind of special sign?

His head was so full of thoughts that he couldn't even sleep properly.

His body was already exhausted from the hellish ball game that morning, but sleep refused to come.

At this rate, he was going to die somewhere without even getting the chance to scream.

"Do you want to become stronger?"

'Ha! Isn't that obvious?'

"Okay. Then wait right there."

...Huh?

Realizing something was strange, Shion abruptly sat up.

He had definitely heard a voice just now.

A strange voice with an indescribable feeling to it.

Surely it wasn't another personality...

Had he overworked himself so much this morning that he was hallucinating?

"Come to me, into my night."

Suddenly, his body swayed.

Not because he was tired.

Not because he had tripped.

The chaotic thoughts filling his head just moments ago suddenly became hazy.

As though thick fog had covered everything.

As though he hadn't slept for days.

An overwhelming drowsiness crashed over him.

'What the hell is—'

Thud!

Shion collapsed onto the floor.

"Ughhh..."

That was his final line before blacking out.

"Hey."

"Ughhh..."

"Wake up already."

At those words, Shion's eyes snapped open.

More accurately, they were forced open by some unknown power.

Jumping to his feet in panic, he looked around.

'W-What is this?'

Just moments ago, he had been in Shion Clausen's bedroom.

But now he stood in a pitch-black space without a single ray of light.

A place filled with an alien atmosphere where neither the flow of time nor changes in space could be felt.

"Over here."

It was a woman's voice.

Sultry and seductive.

When Shion turned toward the source of the voice, he was shocked three times.

First, by her beauty.

Second, by the level of exposure that looked like it belonged in an adult game.

And third—

Because he recognized who she was.

'Why are you here, Noona?!'

Without a sound, the woman glided over until she stood right in front of him.

A sweet fragrance and an alluring pheromone-like scent drifted from her body.

Wearing clothes that barely covered the important parts, exposing her fair skin without restraint, the woman smiled as though a million flowers had bloomed.

"Hehe. Hello. My name is—"

"Lady Lilith."

"Mm-hm, that's right. I'm Lilith—wait, what did you just say?"

Lilith.

The highest-ranking demon.

The queen of the succubi.

A woman so powerful she was practically a demigod.

In the novel, after Shion Clausen's foolish actions caused the marquis border territory to collapse and the Kingdom of Nudia took it over, her appearance was revealed when a famous swordsman from Nudia became her slave.

Despite being a villain, many readers treated her like a heroine.

The reason was simple.

After meeting Kim Yuhyun during the war against Nudia, she became interested in him and tried every possible method to make him hers.

"Who are you? How do you know my name? Are you a demon?"

"As you can see, I'm one hundred percent human."

"Then how did you figure out who I am so easily...?"

Lilith shook her head as if it didn't matter.

Standing close enough that they could feel each other's breath, she spoke in a sticky, seductive voice.

"Well, it doesn't matter. Whether you're human or a demon, whether you know who I am or not, you belong to me now."

"Uh, Lady Lilith. I think there's a bit of a problem with that..."

"Shh. Quiet."

She placed a finger to her lips.

"The queen is about to eat. A slave shouldn't be so noisy. Just accept me. Don't worry—it won't hurt. In fact, it'll feel very good."

"Everything else aside, there's one major problem—"

As if telling him not to speak or think, Lilith suddenly pulled him into her arms.

The soft sensation against his chest.

Her irresistible scent invading his senses and clouding his reason.

'You're going to regret this, Noona...'

The only reason he could think those words instead of saying them aloud was because Lilith was already kissing him deeply and greedily.

The moment he met her ruby-red eyes, Shion stopped thinking altogether.

When a beautiful woman came onto you like this, refusing was like kicking away a meal that had already been prepared and spoon-fed to you.

"...Ah."

A cold sensation made his eyes snap open.

Looking around, Shion realized he was back in his room.

Slowly sitting up, he glanced inside his underwear.

"...Just as I thought."

There was no wet dream.

Lilith was a succubus.

And succubi were dream demons that fed on a man's vital essence.

When a succubus visited someone in their dreams, they stole the person's power, leaving behind the evidence of a wet dream.

That was how it normally worked.

But sometimes, what everyone assumed was normal wasn't.

And Shion Clausen was exactly that kind of case.

This damned body had no mana to steal in the first place.

—Sob... sob...

'Lady Lilith?'

—"O-Oh, you're awake? You really woke up?"

'Yes, I'm awake.'

—"You bastard! You scammer!"

Lilith was supposed to be the villain of the novel.

So why was she crying like someone whose innocence had been stolen?

The reason was simple.

—"You wanted power so desperately that I thought you'd have amazing mana! I went through so much to get here, but what is this?! There's not enough mana to fill my stomach—there isn't even enough for me to leave!"

Entering the dreams of an intelligent being consumed a tremendous amount of mana.

Especially for someone like Lilith, who had only recently escaped her seal and had barely any mana left.

That's why she had to invade dreams and consume the mana residing within the target.

But—

—"Waaaah! What is this?! The body I finally entered is a eunuch! A eunuch!"

The attack on his pride made Shion frown.

'I only lack mana. Everything else works perfectly fine.'

—"To me, it's the same thing! How can someone have such a huge mana space and have absolutely nothing inside it?!"

She's right, Noona.

I've been suffering because of this mana-deficient body too.

'I did warn you.'

—"Shut up! Sob... What am I supposed to do now? I barely escaped the temple! Do you know how hard it was to get past that crazy bastard who kept watching me?! And now I'm stuck inside a mana-deficient body forever! Waaah!"

Having a woman crying loudly inside his head made it throb painfully.

She was crying so pitifully that he would've believed a child was wailing beside him.

After thinking for a moment, Shion realized the solution was surprisingly simple.

'Lady Lilith, if you think about it, there's an easy way out.'

—"Sniff... what is it?"

'A contract of subjugation.'

—"...W-What? That slave contract?"

'The one succubi sometimes make after being captured by men instead. In exchange for being released from the dream, they form a contract with the person's real body and become subordinate to them.'

—"Are you insane?! Do you think I'm some ordinary succubus?! And when exactly did you capture me?! I'm only trapped because I don't have enough mana to leave! Absolutely not! I won't do it!"

To be fair, Lilith had every right to feel wronged.

She hadn't been defeated by a man.

She hadn't been seduced or conquered.

She was simply trapped because there was no mana in this body.

And now her only escape route was a contract normally used by succubi who had been completely overwhelmed by men.

Worst of all—

She was the Queen of the Succubi.

'But that's your only option. No matter how hard you search inside me, you won't find a single speck of mana. That means you'll be trapped until I die. And even after I die, you still won't be able to leave.'

Dream demons fed on mana.

If they became trapped inside a body without any power, they remained imprisoned there until death.

They couldn't move to another body because they lacked the mana to escape.

Lilith had fallen into an inescapable trap.

—"B-But... still..."

'You seem to be having trouble deciding, so I'll help you.'

—"Huh?"

'When a succubus enters someone's dream in a defenseless state like this, the contract can be led by the other side instead.'

—"W-Wait! How do you know that?! Are you really human?! That's one of the greatest secrets among succubi!"

Shion was a true fan who remembered even the smallest details mentioned in passing throughout the novel.

If he couldn't remember something like this, he didn't deserve the title.

'Then let's begin.'

—"H-Hey! Wait! Hold on! This isn't right! No matter how I think about it, this is wrong!"

'For a demigod, you've never heard this saying?'

—"What saying?!"

'You may come as you please, but leaving is another matter.'

—"What kind of nonsense is that?!"

Ignoring Lilith's desperate protests that they should think about this one more time, Shion forcibly pulled the woman who had entered his dreams out into reality.