20.1 Cards On The Table

Liam Ishwar Callaghan was born the son of an Irish Catholic father and Indian Hindu mother. While religion didn't play a major factor in his life growing up it did for his parents to a certain extent. While they didn't let their individual religious beliefs stop them from finding love they were still rather conservative and raised him the same. It took a significant amount of time and experience for Liam to develop an open mind and vowed never to be that ignorant again.

This thought process played a part in why he pursued journalism as a career path. Back then journalism was actually a respected career and by the definition of their job description investigate and report on the truth. Of course that wasn't the case now (or perhaps it never really was) as after getting a few jobs in certain mainstream media outlets he realized that modern journalism has unfortunately become subjective. With information becoming more easily available from multiple sources it has come to light that mainstream media was rife with paid shills, hacks and activists pushing their own agenda.

It was so bad that at one point Liam became ashamed and regretful of his choice in career path and thought about abandoning his journalism career before it even took off proper. Thankfully he only ended up abandoning his job at the mainstream media outlet to instead invest his time in creating a YouTube channel with a focus on journalism. Through time, effort, experimentation, trial and error he eventually found his niche and built his brand becoming a very successful journalist content creator with three channels all sporting big subscriber numbers and monthly viewership.

Throughout his journey to get to this point in his life Liam has learned to never take anything at face value, never judge a book by its cover, never judge a person by their online persona, don't bow to peer pressure and always do his due diligence.

This brings him to his relationship with Amelia.

They met at a convention and immediately hit it off. Afterwards they kept in contact, went on a few dates and eventually moved in together. This was the point in time that Liam learned certain things about Amelia's lifestyle and personality that were a bit off putting to the average person. Specifically Amelia was someone free spirited and liberal especially with her sexuality. Some would call her a degenerate, a term that she wasn't at all bothered by.

Amelia laid it on particularly thick with Liam as a kind of test to see whether or not he would stick around. He almost failed said test as there were points in their relationship that Liam really considered breaking it off. However regardless of what she did or how she acted Liam just could not muster up a good enough reason to. Being with Amelia the pros outweighed the cons and he also believed that the 'cons' were just his personal discomfort when faced with something he lacked experience with or didn't understand.

In Amelia's case it was how liberal she was in expressing her sexuality, hobbies which include watching anime and hentai, doing raunchy cosplay, having an OnlyFans account and even considerations into doing porn content that came off as serious at the time. Liam was someone who always had and valued order in his life and Amelia was basically chaos wrapped in a sexy package. He did not subscribe to the allegory of 'opposites attract' when it came to relationships but he'd be lying if he didn't admit the friction caused by their opposing personalities did not make for exciting times in their relationship.

In the infamous and meme worthy words of Todd Howard it just works and in a weird sort of way they balance each other out complimenting their strengths while covering their weaknesses. Together they managed to carve out a path for their relationship up until he proposed to her two years ago. With that wedding date looming in the not-so distant future Liam was both anticipating and dreading what fresh new 'excitement' this next chapter in their lives together would bring.

There was never a scenario where he would be sitting in a room with his fiancée, his friend and his friends girlfriend who turned out to be an actual succubus princess form another dimension explaining to him how the latter's existence was even possible and also how his fiancée wanted to be like her. Once again his eyes are drawn to the white haired succubus standing in the corner and swallowed as he beheld Ezraphel and the idea that Amelia could become something like that was…admittedly very enticing.

Despite what he's clearly seeing as well as listening intently to what Stan and Amelia were saying Liam still found the situation to be…well…fucking unbelievable.

"Hey" suddenly his head was turned back around to a frowning Amelia "do I need to put you in a neck brace?"

"I can't help it?"

"It is fine Amelia, I am used to men staring at me" Ezraphel (un)helpfully admitted.

Amelia looked to the woman however her irritation slowly turned as she gave her a once over and biting her lip she grumbled "you know it would really help if you just went back to your human form."

"I fear that if I were to do that Liam will attempt to dissuade himself from believing what he has already bore witness to."

"…what?"

"She means that the situation is so ridiculous that if he's not confronted with the proof that is her true form then he will deny it ever existed as a way to protect his mind and rationalize everything."

"Hey I'm not so mentally fragile" Liam scowled yet his eyes strayed to Ezraphel yet again only to look away when he felt more than he saw Amelia's glare.

"No but you're still a man" she deadpanned.

Thankfully Stan interjected "also if you're going through with this best that he gets used to seeing her."

"This is so cap."

"Liam…" Amelia trailed off with a worried expression having clearly been agonizing over his reaction.

Stan on the other hand "hey man I get it, I've been with Ez for months and I wake up sometimes wondering if I didn't just snapped at some point and this is all just in my head."

"Stan that is not at all as reassuring as you think it is" Liam answered.

The other man shrugged "I'm just telling the truth."

"You seem fine with it."

"I do don't I? I can assure you though I am not okay with this at all but it's too late to prevent it and I can't really force them to stop. This is Amelia's decision and Ez is all for it."

Yes Amelia's decision to become a monster girl…mamono…whatever. They threw a lot of things at him at once so there was a lot to unpack and he was still processing it all. He understood the main points though. Ezraphel is a succubus princess from another dimension who ended up in Stan's backyard after messing with a spell (better add magical to her description) and began cohabitating with him. Eventually they started a relationship with rather confusing dynamics since he called her his girlfriend yet she calls him her husband.

The reason why he looked so different from when they last met was because Ezraphel turned him into an Incubus. Now Amelia wanted to become a mamono like Ezraphel and they hinted that Liam will eventually become an Incubus like Stan. Speaking of, Stan was clearly as uncomfortable with this prospect as Liam was. Really it was the women who were pushing for this.

'Jesus Christ…' he covered his mouth with his hands and released a slow breath through his mouth then looked to his fiancée.

"Is this really what you want?"

"Yes" she replied with no hesitation before her features became more bashful "but if you don't want me to go through with this…"

"No, I'm not…" he trailed off with a sigh "you see how weird this is right?"

"Oh most definitely" she agreed.

"I'm still processing."

"We don't have to do it tonight if you do not wish to" Ezraphel spoke up "I am available to continue this whenever and wherever you are comfortable. I have already halted the spread of corruption in Amelia's body and mana core."

"Yeah see we don't have to rush-wait a minute" Amelia cut herself off "mana core? What's that?"

Ezraphel seems to have been caught off guard by the question before realization hit her "oh I forgot to explain. As a result of your monsterization you are developing a mana core to facilitate the Demonic Energy cursing through your body."

"Does that mean I can use magic?" she said with some excitement.

"Amy…" Liam said with exasperation.

"This is important Liam" she interrupted before giving the Lilim an expectant look "so is magic on the table?"

Unfortunately Ezraphel dashed whatever hope she had "no, unlike humans from my dimension your core is still a bit too specialized at the moment to manipulate mana. You will only be able to even attempt spells after becoming a mamono."

Amelia slumped "well that sucks."

"While you may not be able to do spells as you are now you will be better off physically, mentally and spiritually than you were before."

"Well there's that I guess."

Liam could only shake his head.

"Let's stay on topic people" Stan interrupted with a clap looking to Liam "if I may put my two cents into this. As much as I absolutely hate how this came about and I can't believe I'm saying this, objectively speaking there isn't really a downside to her going through with this."

"Only an ethical one" Liam added.

"Ethical?" Amelia frowned.

Liam looked her in the eye "you're basically giving up your humanity"

Liam can see the writing on the wall because if Ezraphel and other dimensions actually exist then wouldn't that mean there was a God, Satan, Heaven and Hell?

"Eeh…" attention turned to Stan as he made a so-so gesture before pausing in consideration "you want my opinion on that?"

The couple gave each other a look before Amelia reluctantly nodded to Liam's mild surprise.

"Humanity is overrated" Stan began then scowled at the looks he received "I'm not just saying that because I'm not human anymore. I think out there in some other universe having your humanity and keeping it against all temptation has some higher meaning but honestly this world ain't it chief."

Now Liam's interest is peak "how'd you figure?"

He glanced at Ezraphel "well I have it on moderately good authority that we don't have a God watching over us right now."

Liam recoiled and looked to Ezraphel who had a look of mild discomfort as she nodded "not to say that there has never been any Gods however all signs point to them either being dormant, absent or…" she trailed off.

"Dead" Stan finished "God is dead. Either that or he's taking a sabbatical or fucked off to greener pastures. Point is there ain't no Gods watching our every move and judging us for our decisions. Not that being human is doing us any favors right now what with all the wars, murders, other heinous crimes and just the general stupidity collectively committed by people literally every day on sites like Twitter and Reddit."

Liam didn't know how to react to that but luckily Amelia wasn't so stunned by this revelation.

"Get to the point" Amelia continued impatiently not liking how Stan captivated Liam's attention.

"The point is I'm an Incubus but I'm still Stan fucking Berkowitz at my core" his frowned deepened "the only difference between me as a human and me now is that I'm in the best shape of my life physically and mentally, can be successfully sociable if I cared to be, people find me attractive and I'm a bonafide sex machine."

"…" the couple gave him a collective deadpan stare.

"Tell em Ez"

"It's true~" the Lilim half gushed with a blush on her face and bashful sinuous motions with her tail.

Amelia who looked she had an onset headache coming on spoke after a moment "again I ask that you get to the point."

"Ezraphel's method of monsterization doesn't make you become a different person" he looked to Liam "if that's what you think 'losing her humanity' means. She'll be the same unbearable wannabe porn star slob you've unfortunately fallen in love with…only objectively more beautiful and ten times as horny."

"You could have just said that from the beginning" Amelia groused.

"Context" Stan stated plainly.

Their budding argument was interrupted by Liam "are you sure becoming an Incubus didn't change you?"

"Yeah I'm a lot less miserable than I used to be."

"That's debatable" Amelia muttered not so silently.

"The only reason why I'm like this is because I think if I ever allow myself to get too comfortable something will go horribly wrong. For example, yesterday I thought I'd relax with some friends and one of them ended up fucking corrupted because of a stupid and completely avoidable mistake."

Behind him Ezraphel flinched and Amelia opened her mouth only for the Lilim to wave her off though her expression showed her appreciation. Amelia clicked her mouth shut but still glared heavily at the man who unfortunately had Liam's complete attention.

"But I'm not exactly a fair comparison since Ezraphel has been the main driving force behind my change" he huffed "with her around I would have ended up like this even if I didn't become an Incubus, just less attractive, less fit and less horny" he took a deep breath "like I said I honestly don't see an objective reason for Amelia not to go through with it at this point. The only thing I'd be worried about is the type of person Amelia is and while I don't trust her not to fuck it up I trust you to reign her in like you always do when she goes too far."

"Hey!"

"I also trust Ezraphel not to let her fuck it up" he turned to the woman who looked like a deer caught in the headlights "I can accept you had a really bad lapse in judgment that caused this and I know you'll never allow something like this to happen again" he pointed at Amelia "and that means taking responsibility for her and ensuring she doesn't do something that would expose us, right?"

Ezraphel took a moment before she nodded regaining her confidence "right!"

"Good and that's my take" he stated before adding "but honestly Liam, would it really matter to you if she's a Mamono? Would you love her any less?"

"Of course not" he answered and laughed at the surprised expression of his fiancée "I just needed time to process and to make sure that this isn't something that will put you in danger."

"Eh…" Stan began only to be interrupted by Amelia.

"Shut up Stan!" Amelia interrupted then turned to Liam and asked with hope in her voice "then you're okay with this?"

Liam sighed once again before his eyes trailed to Ezraphel looking more in contemplation "I still don't really know what to make of all this but if it's not dangerous and you're willing to go through with it then I'll support you."

As she stared into his eyes Amelia couldn't help but think to herself 'why does this seem so familiar?'

Eventually she realized that they have been through this before. Earlier in their relationship when they first moved in and he got to experience the full brunt of her eccentricities. He wasn't so sure about the future of their relationship back then but he took a leap of faith and he's doing it now which really wasn't bad.

'I guess that's all I can really ask for anyway.'

A cough interrupted their moment and the couple turned back to Stan "alright so now that we got that all settled you two need to hash out a time and date for when you want to do this. I suggest clearing your calendar for the week. I am not joking when I say you'll need it believe that. If you have any questions on Mamono culture and what to expect after the transformation talk to Ez. Liam you want to know what to expect living with a hentai monster girl, talk to me. Until then we're leaving."

The two did not leave as they arrived, through the door and instead they disappeared in a flash of light.