The fire had died down, but the smoke still clung to the ruins of House Velmira like the last breath of a dying beast.
Elias didn't look back.
He walked in silence, flanked by Aya and Lilith, while Serina and Nyla followed closely—barefoot, eyes wide, hands still trembling even though their chains were gone. They had been slaves in every sense of the word. And freedom… freedom felt foreign.
The group reached an old watchtower—abandoned, but intact. Elias set up camp inside. The moonlight streamed through the cracks in the walls, painting shadows that flickered like ghosts.
---
A Moment with Serina
Later that night, while the others rested, Elias found Serina sitting alone by the edge of the watchtower's upper floor. The wind tugged gently at her hair.
He approached quietly. "You haven't said much."
She turned, her eyes catching the light—blue, with a faint silver hue from his bond now forming.
"I don't know how to talk," she said softly. "Not when I'm not being told what to say."
Elias sat beside her. "You're not in a cage anymore."
Serina smiled faintly, broken. "No. But I still feel it. In my chest. Here." She tapped lightly over her heart. "Like it's all still happening."
> [System Alert: Emotional Distress Detected – Initiate Soothing Protocol?]
He didn't respond to the system.
Instead, he gently took her hand. "Serina. You don't have to give yourself to me. Not like the others. Not like before. You get to choose."
Her breath hitched.
"No one's ever said that to me."
---
The Bond Deepens
She leaned against his shoulder, trembling like a leaf but not moving away. The silver light from her emotional resonance pulsed stronger now, wrapping around both of them like a thread.
> [Emotional Bond Level Increased: Serina – Rank 2]
[Skill Unlocked: Heartveil – Grants Elias resistance to emotional manipulations from others.]
Serina whispered, "I want to stay... with you. Just don't make me forget who I am trying to be."
"You'll remember," Elias said. "Because this time, it's your story too."
From the shadows, Aya watched with unreadable eyes.
Lilith leaned against the doorframe, arms crossed, smiling faintly. "He's dangerous when he's soft," she muttered.
---
A New Storm
Just as the moment calmed, the system pulsed with new energy.
> [Crimson Trial: Interference Detected.]
[Enemy Sovereign Approaching – 'Lord Riven of the Hunger Path' has sensed your Dominion.]
Elias stood, eyes sharp now. "So they're coming already."
Aya stepped forward, blades drawn. "Let them come."
Lilith smirked, wings half-unfurled. "It's been too quiet anyway."
Serina stood last. Shaky, but with a spark of steel in her eyes. "Then I want to fight too. I'm tired of being owned."
Elias reached for his coat. The Lust Sovereign was no longer just building a harem.
He was raising a revolution.
The night cracked open.
A dark pressure swept across the plains outside the ruined tower—air thick like a storm about to burst. The sky dimmed unnaturally, stars blinking out one by one. It wasn't just night anymore. It was dread.
Aya was the first to feel it.
Her blades shimmered in response, reacting to a presence older than any man and hungrier than any beast.
Elias stepped forward from the watchtower, the others gathering behind him—Lilith, with a wicked grin, Serina with narrowed eyes, and Nyla… still quiet, still holding back.
And then he arrived.
A silhouette, tall and thin like a stretched shadow, appeared just beyond the hills. Cloaked in stitched flesh and bone-wrought armor, his smile was wide and wet, leaking black mist from every corner.
Lord Riven of the Hunger Path.
"Lust," he hissed, his voice like rusted metal grinding through flesh. "How noisy your awakening has been…"
> [System Alert: Sovereign Tier Battle – Combat Locked: All stats elevated by 300% during conflict.]
[Trial Type: Territorial Clash – Winner Claims Domain.]
Elias narrowed his eyes. "You chose the wrong night."
The Battle Begins
Riven moved first. Shadows extended like tentacles, slicing through the wind, aiming straight for Serina.
But Lilith was faster.
Wings bursting open, she soared into the air, carving through the darkness with hellfire-tipped claws. "You think I'll let you touch my lord's harem?" she growled.
BOOM—!
The air trembled as her strike connected, but Riven didn't flinch. He countered with a hunger pulse—an aura that made the very soil decay beneath him. Lilith was blasted back, crashing into the tower wall.
"Mine," Riven whispered, extending a skeletal hand toward Elias. "Give them to me. The girls. The system. Your heart. I will chew it all."
Elias's eyes lit crimson.
> [Lust Core Awakening – Phase II: Heart of Dominion Unlocked.]
[New Ability: Crimson Overlord – Charm cannot be resisted by mortals or weakened demigods.]
Aya dashed forward—blades flashing like stars. "He's mine for ten seconds. Then you finish him!"
"Deal," Elias said.
Ten Seconds of Chaos
Aya became a blur, her movements like music—sharp, beautiful, fatal.
Riven countered with spikes of void, but Aya deflected each one, drawing blood. Every hit bled black hunger from his bones. She flipped, twisted, struck—and the last blow sank deep into his gut.
"Now, Elias!"
> [Skill: Crimson Overlord – Activated]
Elias walked forward like a king on a battlefield, his aura warping the space around him. Lust, pure and terrifying, surged from his chest.
"I don't give my girls to creeps like you."
He clenched his fist.
Chains of red desire exploded from the earth, wrapping around Riven's limbs, neck, heart. His form began cracking.
Riven shrieked, splitting into dozens of forms, but each one was pulled into Elias's orbit.
With one final breath, Elias whispered:
"Burn."
A flash of red light consumed the night.
Aftermath
Silence.
Riven was gone—burnt to nothing, his Domain erased. The plains around them slowly returned to normal, but the group stood stunned.
Aya dropped to one knee. "That… was new."
Lilith groaned. "I need two nights of pleasure after that."
Serina just smiled—shaky but real. "We won?"
Elias didn't smile. His eyes were fixed on the sky—where a mark now burned.
> [System Broadcast: Domain Claimed – Elias Black, Lust Sovereign of the Crimson Path.]
But that mark wasn't alone.
It had attracted attention.
Far away, in the divine layers above the mortal world, the other Sovereigns were watching.
And one of them… a woman in golden threads with a gaze like fire and thrones behind her… whispered:
> "He's interesting. Let's see how long he survives."