Ethereal Ascendance: A Journey of Transformation

"We succubus usually face a big danger when we reach 6th level - we lose control and go crazy. Not many can survive this challenge. I'm lucky I made it!"

Camille seemed in a good mood. Even though we're enemies, she didn't attack right away. She asked me to sit on the sofa in the president's office. The M-country president brought me tea as she ordered. Then she started talking.

"Don't all monsters face this challenge?" I asked with a cold smile, sipping the tea. I knew very well about dark elements's side effects. But I wanted to figure out what she was up to. So I tried to buy time for Adrian to arrive.

Succubus are special monsters. Unlike others who only get smart after reaching a certain level, succubus are born smart like humans. This helps them use their charm powers better. But it also makes their minds weaker against dark elements's bad effects. When they get too strong, they easily go wild and crazy.

Of course, it's not just succubus. All high-level monsters face this sooner or later. That's why there are so many monsters, but very few top experts.

"You don't understand! I could have reached 5th level years ago. But I had to hold back because of this challenge! Then I got sent to this new world by accident. I couldn't resist the huge amount of dark elements here..."

She shook her head, looking frustrated. Even though I mocked her, she stayed calm. She explained what happened to her recently.

Among Michelle's elite followers, Camille used to be only 5th level, quite low. But things changed on Earth. As we knew before, the rich Battle Qi here started breaking down into six elements because of the monsters.

Even Camille didn't know why she could easily absorb the dark elements in the air. This made her power grow super fast. She couldn't hold it back like before. In the end, she entered the "Inner Demon" stage.

"So how did you recover?" I asked.

The "Inner Demon" is just my way of describing it based on experience. Once you're in it, it's not easy to get out. It makes you do many stupid things and get into danger. For Camille, who held back her power for so long before it burst out, recovering should be even harder.

But she was very lucky to escape when she met Cyrae.

"It's thanks to you guys!" she said with a smile. She pointed at her smooth forehead, there used to be a sword wound there, but it's all healed now.

The Apollos Sword Cyrae got from Elara is made of light element. When it touches monsters, it causes huge damage. When Camille fought Cyrae, she barely dodged a blow to her head, but got a small cut on her forehead.

No one expected that the light energy entering her head, though very painful, slowly had a calming effect. It helped stabilize Camille's messed up mind.

Once monsters pass this "Inner Demon" stage and get used to dark elements's side effects, they don't need to worry about it affecting their brains anymore.

Now Camille has passed that stage. With the endless Battle Qi on Earth supporting her, her growth became super fast. In just a day or two, she's almost reached 7th level!

But getting her mind back made her think further ahead. Unlike other monsters, she doesn't really like fighting and doesn't hate humans that much. Her next moves are more for her own benefit.

"After I escaped that day, I realized I probably couldn't beat you two angels alone. But I wasn't sure I could break through the humans' blockade and go back to Eldoria Continent through the space portal. So I decided to leave that city and hide in other parts of this new world. Luckily, I met a friend coming back from another country..."

This friend was the vampire ancestor that Cyrae and I killed in Tenda Flats! It turns out some monsters had already left Shine Metropolitan long ago. They even used modern transport to leave H-country and go to other countries.

Unlike succubus, vampires pass the mind demon stage much more easily. This Ancestor, who was also part of Michelle's elite team, told Camille about one of his kind. Another vampire had already set up a new base on another continent in this world. He needed more people. So Camille decided to join him.

"Don't you think this is an amazing world? There are so many humans here. They've made many awesome and useful things. But they're so easy to control. To me, it's like a dream world! And Rasambla told me the highest leader of this country is called a president. If we control him, we control the whole country! Suddenly, I don't want to go back at all. I've decided to stay in this world and enjoy all the cool tech stuff!"

At this point, Camille got really excited. After leaving H-country, she truly discovered a whole new world! In this most advanced country on Earth, she found that people here know nothing about the other world. It's totally different from the Dark Continent.

Another one who wants to stay! I thought to myself as I drank my tea. I didn't show any reaction, but I had a lot of thoughts.

I wasn't surprised Camille felt this way. Though she's not a vampire, she's been causing trouble on Earth all along. M-country falling to the vampires definitely has something to do with her.

"This Rasambla is the vampire ancestor you wanted to join, right?" I asked. I remembered the name she mentioned and connected it to my final mission target. But some things didn't make sense.

The vampire radar tracks vampires by their bloodline. Why was the succubus identified as a vampire Ancestor? And how could she control those vampire minions?

"That's right! When I first got here, Rasambla had already controlled most of the country's leadership. But there were too many people to control. Even his magic wasn't enough. So I helped him out!" Camille nodded proudly.

There's a limit to how many minions vampires can have. They say each personal guard takes a bit of the ancestor's power. But M-country has way too many people. To control the whole country, one vampire's magic is far from enough, even with the boost from Battle Qi! So Camille, whose power had grown way beyond before, didn't hesitate to help.

"Hmph! We've almost controlled all of M-country together. But that Rasambla guy keeps thinking about attacking H-country to get the space portal back and return to Lady Michelle. He has no vision or ambition at all!"

When I asked where this vampire ancestor is now, Camille got really angry and snorted.

At first, she just worked with him, sharing power. But later, she found Rasambla's goals were totally different from hers. After the magic circle was destroyed, they couldn't find new materials to replace it in M-country. He even wanted to attack other countries to expand. This made their conflict over dark elements worse.

Whether Rasambla succeeded or failed, Camille couldn't accept the result. She decided to take over. She used the succubus charm power to totally control Rasambla's mind, including his previous minions!

Now she's become the true ruler of M-country, just like she wanted. Maybe we can call her "President" too?

"So you monsters can use your powers on your own kind?" I was shocked. In theory, there's nothing wrong with this infighting. But something still felt weird. What's the deal between succubus and vampires?