Reborn as a Succubus: Time To Live My Best Life!

Melisa’s eyes snapped open at the sound of knocking.

She blinked groggily, her mind still fuzzy with sleep. Yawning, she sat up.

[Wha... what the fuck? Who’s knocking at this hour?]

She glanced at Raven’s bed, seeing her roommate stirring as well. If anything, it seemed like she’d woken up a couple of seconds earlier than Melisa.

[Wow. It’s so early Raven hasn’t even gone for her morning run, yet.]

"I’ve got it," Melisa mumbled, swinging her legs out of bed and padding towards the door.

She opened it, expecting maybe Isabella with some ridiculous new scheme or Armia with a sudden study crisis.

Instead, she found herself face to face with a black-robed figure, a glinting dagger already moving towards her throat.

Instantly, she threw herself backward, the blade whistling past her ear close enough to slice off a strand of her hair.

For a moment, it was like time froze. Melisa was leaning back, that knife was so close she could almost feel it, and the hooded figure’s eyes almost burned through Melisa’s own.

"Shit!" The Shadow Mage assassin surged forward, clearly intent on finishing the job. "Raven, we’ve got company!"

Raven was out of bed in an instant, her own dagger appearing in her hand as if by magic.

She lunged at the assassin from behind, forcing him to spin and parry her strike.

Melisa used the distraction to finish her spell. She’d started casting one the instant she laid eyes on this guy.

"Ignis, vara, cortohl!" she yelled, and a wall of blue flame erupted between them and the assassin.

"Tsk!" He clicked his tongue, raising his hand. As he began drawing a spellsign, dark energy swirled around his fingers.

Melisa formed a barrier with a rushed incantation and her hand moved like she was having spams. At the same time, Raven rushed forward.

The spell from the assassin dissipated when it hit Melisa’s magical shield. Raven closed the gap and plunged her dagger right into the guy’s abdomen.

"ACK!"

And that was all he managed to get out before Melisa retaliated with her personal favorite spell for these circumstances.

[Old reliable, heh. Here you go, asshole!]

"Illumi, nerca, var fal!"

A sphere of blue flame fell out from Melisa’s hand and launched itself at the man.

She had no idea why this spell did so much damage. Why this spell hurt its opponent so much. But, Melisa couldn’t deny its effectiveness.

The assassin screamed as the spell hit him. After a brief moment, he crashed to the floor, twitching twice before going limp.

For a moment, Melisa and Raven just stood there, panting heavily as they stared at the fallen assassin.

"Well..." Melisa said finally. "That’s one way to wake up, I guess."

Raven snorted.

"Are you okay?" she asked quietly, her eyes scanning Melisa for injuries.

"Yeah, I’m fine," Melisa assured her. "You?"

Raven nodded, before turning back toward the dead assassin.

Just then, they heard footsteps approaching. Melisa tensed, ready for another fight, but instead of another assassin, a very confused-looking courier rounded the corner.

The man stopped short, his eyes widening as he took in the scene before him – two girls in pajamas and a very dead, black-robed figure on the ground.

"Uh," he stammered, clutching his mailbag tightly. He looked back and forth between the body and Melisa. "I... I have a delivery for Melisa Blackflame?"

Melisa brightened up a bit.

"Yeah, that’s me," she stepped forward. "What’s up?"

The courier stared at the body for another moment before shaking his head and handing over an envelope.

"Thanks," Melisa said casually. "Have a nice day!"

And, the courier practically ran away.

---

Melisa leaned against the classroom wall, her eyes fixed on Armia as the darian girl stood in the center of the room, holding Isabella’s wand in the air.

She was tracing some spellsigns, magical embers bouncing off the wand on occasion.

Mellisa couldn’t help but notice the looks Armia was getting from their classmates. Some looked like they felt threatened, others looked curious.

[... You know, Armia did make it to the semi-finals of that tournament. I wonder if she developed any sort of reputation off that. Or, maybe they’re only curious about the wand.]

It was Isabella’s gaze that really caught Melisa’s attention, though.

The kitsune’s eyes kept darting to Armia, her gaze traveling up and down the darian’s form with an intensity that was hard to miss. Melisa could have sworn she saw Isabella trying to peek under Armia’s skirt, almost like she was hoping for a glimpse of... something.

The thought of it made Melisa smirk, but surely, she had to be wrong.

[They can barely stand each other, so, I’m probably reading too deeply into it.]

Shaking her head, Isabella’s voice broke through Melisa’s thoughts.

"So, what about that letter from this morning? What was it about?"

Melisa pulled it out of her bag and handed it over for Isabella to read.

"Turns out the court sorceress is coming back to Syux soon."

Armia’s eyes widened. She stopped her practice to ask:

"The court sorceress? The one who’s supposed to be your new tutor?"

Melisa nodded.

"Yep. According to the king, she’s already been told about the tutorship and is ’excited to work with me’. We’re supposed to start in a couple of days."

Isabella whistled low.

"Damn, Mel. So, you’re really moving up in the world, huh? First saving the king, now private lessons with the court sorceress... what’s next, gonna take over the throne?"

"Please, don’t even joke about that. I’m still not clear on what this place’s treason laws are like." Melisa snorted.

Just then, the classroom door swung open, and their professor strode in.

The chatter died down as he made his way to the front of the room, his robes swishing dramatically.

"Alright, settle down," he called out, his voice carrying easily over the last few whispers. "I have an announcement to make. For our next assessment, you’ll be participating in paired demonstrations."

A murmur of interest rippled through the class.

"The theme," the professor continued, "will be ’magical parries’. You’ll be expected to showcase your ability to defend against and counter various types of spells. To keep things fair, we’ll be drawing straws to determine the pairs."

Melisa exchanged glances with her friends.

[Please, please, don’t put me with someone I don’t know.]

The professor began moving through the class, holding out a bundle of straws for each student to choose from. Melisa watched as her classmates drew their lots, some looking pleased, others disappointed.

When it was her turn, Melisa reached out and plucked a straw from the bundle.

[Okay, so my partner should be whoever has my color. Mine’s blue, so...]

It took a bit. One classmate after another, nobody had blue. Until...

"What the...?" She couldn’t help but mutter when she saw her designated partner.

The girl she’d been paired up with looked like she was thinking the same.

Jaylin.

[Jaylin? You’ve got to be kidding me.]

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She couldn’t believe her luck. Jaylin had been avoiding her for years, ever since Melisa and her family had moved in with Javir.

Now they were supposed to work together?

[Well,] Melisa thought, sighing, [that should be fun.]

She glanced over at her friends.

Now, Isabella’s eyes were far less subtly on Armia. Mainly because they ended up paired together.

"Well well, looks like we’ll be working together." Explore more at novelbuddy

"Looks like I’m stuck with you, more like."

Isabella just smirked at that.

"Right," the kitsune said, her tail swinging side to side mischievously. "Just try not to fall in love, okay?"

Armia made a gagging noise.

Raven, meanwhile, was standing off to the side, completely expressionless.

"Miss Nightsong," the professor called out, "it seems we have an odd number today. You’ll be allowed to do your presentation solo."

Raven nodded, looking neither pleased nor disappointed by this turn of events.

As the class broke into their assigned pairs to begin planning, Melisa took a deep breath and made her way over to Jaylin.

The human girl was studiously avoiding eye contact, her posture stiff and unwelcoming.

"Hey," Melisa said, forcing a smile. "Looks like we’re partners. Any thoughts on how we should approach this?"

Jaylin finally looked at her, her blue eyes cold.

"Just don’t get in my way," she said, her voice barely above a whisper. "I don’t need your help to excel at this."

Melisa raised a brow.

[Wonderful start.]

Soon, as the class filed out into the hallway, the air buzzed with excited chatter about the upcoming demonstrations. Melisa found herself standing beside Raven, watching Armia and Isabella, both of whom seemed to be pointedly avoiding eye contact with each other.

"So," Isabella purred, her tail moving back and forth as she looked away from Armia. "Looks like you got stuck with the ice queen, huh Mel?"

Melisa sighed, running a hand through her hair.

"Yeah, this is gonna be... interesting."

They walked in silence, largely. As they reached the end of the hall, Jaylin brushed past them without a word, her posture stiff and unwelcoming. Melisa watched her go, a mixture of frustration and curiosity swirling in her gut.

[How the hell am I going to make this work?] she wondered, her tail twitching nervously. [And why does she hate me so much anyway?]

She had no idea.