THE ALMIGHTY SYSTEM IS JUST A LEWD GIRL - Chapter 31: Ghost Reapers.

The crowd scattered in every direction, but no one came for us. The prince and his hunters were swallowed by another street, their noise fading under the calls of vendors rebuilding toppled stalls.

Rhea lowered her blade slowly, her eyes still sharp. Vesper slipped her rings back onto her fingers one by one. Selendra stretched like a cat and flicked her tail, satisfied for reasons only she knew.

I finally exhaled. The charm under my shirt was warm, steady, but Alma gave me nothing. I pressed harder. Alma, please. Just say something…but there was only silence.

“We need a place to rest,” Rhea said. Her voice was low but final. “This city is no safer than the last.”

Selendra’s smile turned sly. “I know where to find a bed.”

“No,” Rhea snapped. “We’ll pick our own.”

Still, we followed the flow of the street until the crowds thinned and the lamps dimmed. The buildings leaned closer here, paint flaking, windows barred. Signs dangled with symbols I didn’t know. One door stood open under a faded lantern. The smell of smoke and old wood drifted out.

The innkeeper waited behind the counter, a woman with scales running down her neck and into the collar of her robe. Her eyes were narrow and bright, watching us like we’d already done something wrong.

“Five coins a night,” she said before we spoke. Her voice rasped like stone dragged over stone.

Rhea’s hand went to her purse, but Vesper lifted a palm. “Three,” she said.

The woman hissed, a forked tongue flashing between her teeth. “Five.”

“Three,” Vesper repeated, her tone calm but final. She reached into her satchel and set the coins on the counter. The weight of her stare did the rest.

The innkeeper’s eyes flicked to Selendra, then back to Vesper. Slowly, she dragged the coins toward her. “Third door upstairs. Don’t light candles after midnight. The walls remember.”

Her voice dipped as she turned away, muttering words I almost missed. “Ghosts of old reapers.”

I froze. “What did you say?”

She didn’t answer,she shuffled into the back, leaving us in the dim front hall with our packs and our silence.

We went up,the stairs creaked under our boots. The hall smelled of mildew and smoke. The third door opened into a single room with two beds pushed against opposite walls, a cracked mirror, and a shuttered window that let no air in.

Selendra moved first, her tail swaying. She dropped onto the nearest bed and patted the space beside her. “Here, host. Sleep with me. Warmth is better when shared.”

“No,” Rhea snapped, stepping forward. “Haven’t you done enough?”

Selendra’s grin didn’t falter. “What I’ve done is bind myself. You can glare all you want, but he’s mine now. He should get used to it.”

Vesper slipped between them, her eyes cold. “Succubus know better than to test witches. Don’t make me remind you.”

For the first time, Selendra’s smirk faltered. She clicked her tongue, sulking, and dragged herself to the far corner. “Fine. Have your boy. I’ll take the floor.”

I almost thought the pout was… cute. I caught myself fast. No. She’s the reason Alma won’t speak. Don’t you dare soften.

We ate in silence. The bread was dry, the meat cold, but it was something. Afterward, Rhea cleaned her blade with a cloth, Vesper set her satchel against the door, and Selendra curled up with her tail wrapped around her knees.

I lay back on the hard mattress and pressed my hand to the charm. “Alma,” I whispered again. “I’m sorry. Please… just talk to me.”

The charm pulsed once,then nothing and sleep took me in fragments.

Somewhere past midnight, I woke to a sound. A scrape, faint and sharp, like nails dragging wood. My eyes opened. The room was dark, the only light from the crack under the door.

The sound came again. Not from the hall. From above.

I tilted my head back. My breath caught.

Shapes clung to the ceiling. Pale, long-limbed things. Their fingers and toes dug into the wood like hooks. Faces white and hollow. Mouths stretched too wide. Their bodies moved like lizards, crawling slowly, turning their heads down toward us.

Reapers…I didn’t breathe,I couldn’t.

One of them tilted its head. Its empty eyes locked on me and then it smiled.

The grin split wider, thin and wrong. Another reaper shifted beside it, crawling forward on the ceiling beams like a spider. The wood groaned under their weight but didn’t break.

My throat locked. My hand flew to the charm under my shirt. Alma stayed silent.

“Rhea,” I whispered.

Her eyes opened instantly. Soldier reflex. She followed my gaze upward. Her face hardened. She rolled to her side and tapped Vesper’s arm.

Vesper’s eyes snapped open. The pale glow from her rings lit faint shapes above us. She didn’t speak. She just moved her hand, ready.

Selendra was the last. She stirred, sensing the tension before her eyes even opened. When she did, her smile faded. Her tail uncoiled, low and sharp. “Reapers,” she hissed.

The creatures crawled lower, their pale faces inches from the ceiling beams. They moved in silence, only the scrape of nails on wood. Six of them. Each one thin, their torsos stretched, their eyes empty holes that burned faint white.

The first one dropped and it fell without sound, landing in a crouch between the two beds. Its head twisted unnaturally, one eye socket locked on me.

Rhea was already moving,her sword came down in a clean arc,the blade cut straight through its neck. The body convulsed, pale mist spilling out instead of blood. The head rolled once, then dissolved.

The others hissed..not with mouths, but with the air itself and the sound rattled in my teeth.

Two more dropped, one lunging at Vesper. She flicked her rings. A line of black flame shot from her hand, slicing across the reaper’s chest. It shrieked without a mouth, the sound burrowing into my skull.

The second launched at me. Its clawed hands stretched for my throat.

I staggered back, hitting the wall. My hands shot up without thought. The charm flared. A pulse of cold light burst out. The reaper hit it mid-air and was thrown back into the cracked mirror. Glass shattered around us.

I stared at my hand, chest heaving. That hadn’t been me. That had been Alma. Even in silence, she was still protecting me.

Selendra laughed low, stepping forward as another reaper crawled down the wall. “Pretty pets,” she purred. Her claws extended, her body shifting just enough to show the true succubus form under her skin. She leapt, driving her nails into its chest. The creature buckled, white mist spilling from the wound, and collapsed.

Two left. They dropped together, one going for Rhea, the other straight for me again.

Rhea met hers with a brutal kick, sending it sliding across the floor. Her sword pinned it through the chest before it could rise.

The last one slammed me against the wall. Cold fingers wrapped my throat. I clawed at its grip, choking, the charm pulsing wildly. Alma’s silence pressed harder.

“Say something!” I croaked. My vision blurred. The reaper’s hollow face loomed closer.

Then Selendra’s tail whipped past me, catching the creature’s neck. She yanked it back and tore it away from me. Her claws ripped through its chest in one clean motion. It dissolved, leaving only the smell of ash.

The room went still and my knees gave out. I dropped against the wall, gasping for air. Rhea wiped her blade clean, her face pale but steady. Vesper let her rings dim. Selendra crouched in front of me, her grin back in place.

“You should thank me, host,” she said, voice low. “If not for me, you’d be in their claws.”

“Stay back,” Rhea snapped, stepping between us.

Selendra raised her hands innocently. “Just saying the truth.”

I pressed my palm to the charm, ignoring them both. “Alma… please. I need you.”

I go nothing,only the cold hum.

Rhea turned to the shattered window. “We can’t stay here,the innkeeper knew, she set us in here on purpose.”

Vesper nodded. “Reaper ghosts don’t roam without an anchor,this room is one.”

Selendra licked her lips. “Then we move. But where, in a city that isn’t ours?”

Rhea looked at me. “Get up,we’ll find out.”