NOVPUBLeonhardt's eyes narrowed as Erina turned and fled.
She didn't run exactly—no, she tried to walk. But her legs betrayed her, trembling beneath the weight of her shame. Her head turned back three times. Once to check if he was still watching. Once out of reflex. And the third, just before vanishing around the corner, was slower.
Lingering.
His thumb traced the edge of his mouth, slick with the faint wetness she'd left behind. He licked the edge of his lips, tongue dragging across where her mouth had pressed, letting the lingering taste settle on his tongue.
Vanilla.
Vanilla, honeyed breath, and the faint tang of helplessness.
"She'll struggle with that one for a while," he murmured.
It suited her.
Behind him, the chamber had already begun to cool. The scent of her arousal still clung faintly to the air, damp and confused. He breathed it in. Took it with him.
Her kiss wasn't a surrender. Not yet. But it was permission.
"She's softening," he said aloud.
Vyx blinked up at him from below, small fingers still curled around his elbow like a newborn beast. "She's leaking," the demon observed helpfully.
Leonhardt chuckled.
"Yes. And when Erina realises—she'll break faster."
He gave her no more thought. Not now. She would spiral on her own.
"Griv," he called without raising his voice.
From the shadow of the next archway, the goblin butler emerged, adjusting his sleeves, expression perfectly pleasant.
"Sire?"
"Summon the Council. I want the war table set in twenty minutes. Full attendance."
Griv straightened, already grinning. "Shall I prepare refreshments? Blood wine and sentiment, perhaps?"
Leonhardt didn't smile. "Just tell them to bring everything."
"As you will, my Lord. War meetings are always best with a little salt."
Leonhardt turned his head slightly, a small smirk playing on his lips.
Griv's brows lifted slightly—only slightly. Then he vanished with a dramatic flourish.
Leonhardt stood alone in the hallway for a moment longer, one hand resting casually near his hip.
"She wants salvation," he murmured, eyes half-lidded. "But she'll settle for ruin if it comes in my voice."
And with that, he walked toward the goblin citadel, entering the antiquated chamber.
——
The war platform sat atop the Goblin Citadel—a circular terrace of blackened stone and bone-carved walls, ringed by jagged iron torches that never went out.
Black banners flapped in the fierce wind, each painted with Leonhardt's sigil: a broken crown wrapped in thorns. From here, the valley below was visible—wooden palisades, crude watchtowers, and in the distance, the smoky haze of Astrea.
Leonhardt stepped onto the stone.
The Goblin Council was already gathered. They turned as one.
Lina dropped to her knees with that fevered devotion she wore like skin. "Master. The night winds shift. The blood sings louder. Shall we sharpen the knives?"
"We begin," Leonhardt said.
At the centre of the terrace, a circular slab of cracked stone bore a freshly inked map of Astrea, weighted at the corners with small obsidian idols. Griv stood beside it, arms crossed, his expression unreadable.
Snaggle was already pacing, muttering to himself and snapping fingers in quick rhythm. "No nobles this time. No wandering priests. This move burns more than a few bridges."
Leonhardt pointed to the inked symbol near the city's commercial ring—etched in red: The Last Call.
"Our next target is Endo."
Silence.
Even Snaggle stopped moving. Lina looked up slowly, eyes wide with fascination.
"The Last Call?" Mossi's voice was dry and earthy. "That's not just a bar, is it?"
"It's the city's neutral ground," Griv said. "Assassins, smugglers, spies. If it happens in Astrea, it passes through him."
Leonhardt nodded. "Endo balances the guilds. He keeps the city from devouring itself. If we kill him, we force collapse. The pieces will fall... where I place them."
Lina was already smiling. "And his daughter?"
"She'll break."
Snaggle clicked his tongue. "Risky. Endo's no fool. He's surrounded. Watched. You send anyone obvious, and it becomes a martyrdom."
Leonhardt's gaze was flat.
"We won't send just anyone."
A hush fell over the terrace.
"She's already waiting," he said.
Griv arched a brow. "You mean the one you—"
"Yes."
Leonhardt traced a finger along the mark on the map.
"She goes in quiet. She carves him open. And she leaves a message in his blood."
The goblins in the council gazed at him with a curious look, although they were monsters. Goblins could be seen as slightly feral or wild humans at worst. They just ate delicious things and enjoyed a more raw food.
Dia.
That's who Leonhardt planned to use: a woman with a broken mind, whose ability to control her and change her reality was much greater than before. His incubus blood made him even more effective against females.
—
The goblins vanished after the meeting, arranging a feast and ale.
Leonhardt didn't stop them or complain.
Instead, he loved to see their smiles when the creatures and monsters he summoned showed emotion. It felt like He could... feel the same things.
With a smirk, he entered the inner sanctum.
"Foolish little guys..."
Dia stood motionless inside the sanctum chamber of the Goblin Citadel, beneath an arch of bone and runic chains that shimmered faintly under torchlight.
Her pale skin looked almost translucent under the flicker of the flames, dressed in simple leathers, her long black hair tied back with surgical precision. Her eyes, once sharp with pride, were glassy now. Unblinking. Vacant.
She hadn't moved since Leonhardt entered.
He stopped a few feet from her, arms folded, simply watching.
"Do you know your name?" he asked.
A beat of silence.
Then: "Dia."
Her voice came out flat. Not emotionless—but hollow, like it belonged to someone else. The words were learned, not felt.
Leonhardt stepped closer, circling her slowly. "And what do you do?"
She blinked once. "I wait. I serve. I kill."
He reached out, brushing a thumb against her cheek. No reaction. Not even a twitch. Her skin was warm. Too warm. Her pulse moved fast under her throat—her body still remembered fear, even if her mind had forgotten how to hold it.
"You will go to The Last Call," he whispered while stroking along her soft curves, no emotions on his face. "You'll get close to Endo."
A pause.
"And then?"
Dia's eyes dilated slightly, as if her body anticipated the order before she even answered.
"I carve him open," she whispered. "And I leave a message."
Leonhardt smiled faintly. The aura of his incubus blood had reshaped her. Bent her spirit to his voice. She wasn't just obedient—she desired it. Somewhere deep in that shattered mind, what remained of Dia wanted to please him.
He leaned down, voice brushing the shell of her ear.
"No witnesses. No screams. Cut deep. Slow. Let his blood speak for me."
"Yes, Master."
She didn't even blink.
Leonhardt lingered there, studying the tight rise and fall of her breath. She smelled faintly of steel and crushed violets—clean, trained, hollowed out.
He turned toward the door.
"You move at nightfall."
Dia didn't respond. She didn't need to.
The sanctum door creaked as it opened, casting Leonhardt's long shadow across her feet. He paused once, glancing back.
"Leave the dagger in his mouth."
And then he was gone.
Dia stood alone in the flickering dark, unmoving, as if her next breath would come only when commanded. But then his words, followed by a violet mist that seeped into her nose and lips, brought a twisted smile to her face.
"You are not allowed to die."
——
The moon draped over the Goblin Citadel, creating a deep shadow that covered the entire village. Below, the clang of training weapons echoed through the valley, mingled with goblin chants and the hiss of torchlight.
Leonhardt stood alone atop the upper walkway, hands clasped behind his back, eyes fixed on the far-off city glow of Astrea.
"You've got that look again."
Asuka's voice rolled in like heat off steel. She didn't announce her arrival—she never did. She tapped the stone with each step and grabbed Leonhardt's arm, hugging him tightly. Her arms folded under her heavy breasts push them up, her tail flicking lazily behind her.
Leonhardt didn't glance at her. "Which look?"
"The one you get before someone dies screaming."
She smirked. Her sharp red eyes flicked toward the open gates below, where a dark figure moved without sound, vanishing into the night like smoke. 𝓃𝓸𝓿𝓹𝓾𝓫.𝓬ℴ𝓶
"Is that the broken one?" she asked. "The cold bitch who threatened to kill you?"
"Yes."
Asuka's nostrils flared, catching the scent of burning resin and blood. "I don't want to blame you or say anything... but are you really going to kill Erina's father?"
Leonhardt's voice came low, quiet. "If she can endure it... Then Erina will become stronger."
Asuka laughed.
It wasn't mocking—just amused, the way predators laugh when prey stumbles toward them.
"Shit, Leo, your love is so dark." She said, nudging him with her elbow. "You get hard every time a woman cries or kills for you. Ever thought about therapy?" Her hand slipped along his crotch, feeling his throbbing bulge, warm, hard.
His eyes slid to her. "Every time I fuck you, that's therapy."
Her tail coiled once, slowly. "Then I'm your favourite session."
Below, Dia passed the threshold into open wild, a blade tucked under her robes, her gait perfect. Unthinking. Absolute.
Asuka watched her vanish, then sniffed once.
"Gotta admit. That's a good leash."
"What, do you want one?" Leonhardt asked while Dia mounted a white horse, one of the churches.
Leonhardt turned.
"War begins with a kiss."
She tilted her head. "And how does it end?"
He paused at the threshold of the tower.
"Shall we go to my bed and find out?"
Asuka didn't tease her tail, slapped his palm, before cooling around it, and leaning against him as the pair vanished into the darkness.
In the depths of night.
Hundreds of goblins prepared... to spread through the land.
Catapults, trebuchet, ballistas and dynamite.
They created deadly siege engines, ready to crush the human city.
Astrea would never know what hit them.
For Dia would not be killing her former lover... but mistake him for someone else.
