Release That Succubus

The unstable mana erupted with the full force of a mini explosion and threw her off her feet as she fell backwards on her ass.

Zach rushed in her direction to stop her from falling as soon as he heard the sound of her spell going out of control. Alas he was too far away to be able to prevent her fall.

As if by an unconscious reaction, Zach bent down in order to lift her up or at least support her as she tried to get back on her feet. But the girl ignored his outstretched hand and got up on her own.

Zach felt weird since he had no other intentions other than to help her but he swiftly pulled his hand back and looked around him to notice anyone who might have witnessed this sight.

"She isn't one of those toxic feminists who look down on men right?" Zach thought but dismissed the thought considering that she had asked for his help on their return from the forest and when she wanted him to save her brother.

He felt that she was just being stubborn about her own training and wanted to do it her way without any helping hand. Zach knew many individuals who liked to learn things on their own and couldn't understand when someone showed it to them. Maybe she was a mutated version of that breed of humans.

"Since I am not good at magic myself, I should teach her something else. I have already taken her under my wing and I can't have her stumbling around blind like this. I can strengthen her magic probably like I did with Luna. AAahh...just the thought of it makes me weak in the legs. Just Luna is already enough. She squeezes me dry practically on a daily basis. I can't handle another one. The idea of a harem army of my dreams is too impractical as long as Luna's excessive libido doesn't disappear. My semen just isn't enough to strengthen them both at the same time." Zach pondered in his mind the best method to strengthen Diana in order to let her gain confidence in herself. He needed to show her that being mage wasn't the only path on the way to becoming strong.

Zach's countenance changed to serious as he called for Diana and asked him something.

"I just saw you trying very hard but I am wondering whether to admire you or to call you a fool. That's why answer question of mine to help me make that judgment."

Diana was bewildered at first but she had already taken him as her master so she felt no need to feel wary or hesitant when Zach asked her something. So she just nodded in acknowledgement. She desperately wanted Zach to acknowledge her and that was why she had been practicing so hard after her strength increased from taking his blood.

"What is it that you truly desire? Is it to become a powerful mage who is better than the average men? Or do you want to get strong; stronger than every man or woman." asked Zach curiously as his bore into her looking for the answer in her expression.

"I want to be strong so I can protect the people I want to protect." Diana replied as she stared into his eyes by reflex. She didn't even think about the answer and that was how Zach knew that this was her true desire that had come straight from her heart.

"So you are a fool then. Diana…blindly working hard isn't going to get you anywhere. Every human is built different. Some are physically strong and some aren't. Some have a talent for magic but most don't.

Diana's face turned so red that it was practically a tomato by that point. She had never thought that her new master would think of her as a fool. She wondered where she had gone wrong.

She wanted to hide her face somewhere like those birds that stuck their faces into the ground to avoid predators but his powerful gaze wouldn't let her look anywhere else.

"And I am talking about humans in general. Man or woman doesn't matter much. Men have the same weaknesses as you do. There are strong men and there are weak men just as there are strong women and weak women. Then why do you fail to see that the strong men are strong because they capitalized on their strengths while the weak men are weak because they failed to find their own strengths." continued Zach with the same serious expression on his face.

Zach was serious as he explained all this to her because there was personal experience involved in his sermon. He had known many girls who were stronger than males even though they were very prejudiced in the community. Of course the only thing he had experience were games, so the so called strong females were actually experienced gamers. He was applying his gaming knowledge to give this sermon which surprisingly fit the situation entirely.

As if a light bulb had lit up inside her head, several ideas sprang to life in her mind. Diana thought back on her actions and felt ashamed about her choices. Now that she was reconsidering her decisions objectively, she could feel that she had never bothered to think about what she wanted for herself. She always jumped into the next pit without thinking about anything and in the end she had found herself stuck.

"By comparing yourself with strong men, you essentially forgot to create and follow your own path. You need to try different things in order to find out you strengths. Think about it a bit…if you wanted to be strong then magic isn't the only way you know. There are other paths that are suitable for women. Just choose what you are good at and be the best in what you do. Why are you so fixated on magic that you ignored the countless possibilities to improve yourself?" Zach breathed heavily as this might have been the longest sermon he had ever given to someone other than himself.

Zach felt that he had been too harsh on her as the girl looked like she was about to cry any minute now. He needed to take care of the situation fast. He was terrified of tears since he didn't know how to stop them once women started to cry.

"I intend to teach you one of those methods that will allow you to beat enemies who are physically stronger than you and are better than you in terms of magical talent. You can kill them by the droves if you want to with this method." Zach explained his intentions of teaching her how to use firearms. He felt that this was the easiest method since even Zach had been able to take care of mages using them even though he had no magical weapons at the time.

But he needed to evaluate how efficient she was in handling firearms and whether she could be trained to be a battle companion. He severely needed someone to watch his back during battles. Knowing Luna, Zach was sure that she would jump in the path of the bullets meant for him. This was not what Zach wanted. Diana on the other hand was very rational and would be the perfect person to head into battle with.

Bruce wanted to interfere instinctively because he knew that Zach was a dark mage. He didn't want her to follow the same path. But then his rationality took over and he held himself back thinking:

"My sister has already decided to follow him and he has even agreed to help us escape our predicament, the least I can do is trust him that he won't let my sister come to harm."

As expected Diana didn't take very long before she nodded like an obedient child trying to hold back her tears from falling.

Zach found it cute but didn't point it out to her because he was afraid of the flood that might follow.

It wasn't that Diana didn't have doubts regarding what he was going to teach her. Since he was a dark mage, she felt that he might be trying to teach her dark magic as well. Even though she was thinking along the same lines as her brother, she didn't have the slightest hesitation. Other than being surprised that a dark mage was willing to divulge his secrets, she didn't feel any repulsion at all. She already considered Zach to be her master so she didn't feel that there was anything wrong with learning from him.