The room stopped breathing.
One second, Elias was gripping Lilith's arm, her voice cracking from the heat of their shared fury. The next, the entire chamber exploded in a pulse of violet-red light, blinding and wild—like the system had torn open a wound in reality.
> [Lust System Trial Triggered: Forbidden Core Detected]
[Warning: Emotional instability has breached Sovereign Threshold]
Elias stumbled back, panting. His heart pounded like a war drum.
"What the hell did I just do?" he whispered.
The ground beneath them cracked open. From its heart, a dark staircase emerged, coiled in red velvet and obsidian light. At its end… a throne made of memories and madness.
Lilith clutched her chest, eyes widening. "That's not just a trial… That's the Sovereign Path."
Aya blinked as tears trailed down her cheeks. "I… I saw it. All of it. Your pain, Elias. It's eating you alive."
"I don't care," Elias said, stepping forward. "If this is the price for power… for protecting you both… then I'll pay it. Every damn coin of pain."
The system voice echoed in his mind, cold and absolute:
> [Initiating Forbidden Core Sequence. Survival of host and bonded consorts not guaranteed.]
Inside the Core
The moment Elias crossed the boundary, the world shattered.
He stood in a mirror dimension—reflections of his failures surrounding him. His mother's back as she walked away. His old lover's final words, "You're just a broken boy playing god." A dozen faces of women he let down, each bleeding from their hearts.
Behind him, Aya screamed.
"No!" Elias whipped around.
She was trapped in a cage of thorns. Her body was whole, but her mind was cracking under emotional echoes pouring from the core.
Lilith was worse—on her knees, clawing at her skin, whispering his name like a fading prayer.
This wasn't a test of strength.
It was a test of guilt.
"System," Elias growled. "Take me. Let me suffer it. Not them."
> [Offer Accepted.]
[Redirecting Emotional Load to Host.]
Pain surged through him like wildfire. But he stood, teeth bared.
His mind became a battlefield. Shadows whispered failure, desire, rage. But another voice—one older, ancient—whispered from the throne.
"You are not the first... but you may be the last."
The throne pulsed.
Elias stepped forward, blood pouring from his nose, his eyes flickering gold.
"I am Elias. I don't kneel to memory. I command desire."
He placed his palm on the throne.
System Breakthrough
> [Congratulations. Forbidden Core Subjugated.]
[System Evolution Complete.]
[Title Unlocked: Lust Sovereign – Harem Lord of Dominion]
[New Skills: Emotional Chain Link, Crimson Command, Aura of Subjugation]
The throne's light shot through the room like a meteor, healing Aya and Lilith instantly. Their eyes snapped open—glowing with newfound power. They were different now. So was he.
Aya reached for him, dazed. "What… what are we now?"
Elias looked down at his hand. A new crest had burned itself into his skin—a crown surrounded by entwined serpents of desire and chaos.
"We're no longer just bonded," he said, voice like thunder wrapped in silk. "We're awakened."
The world outside the Forbidden Core was quiet… unnaturally so.
Not even the wind dared speak as Elias stood at the peak of the obsidian stairs, the remnants of the shattered throne behind him. His clothes were tattered, but his body radiated a dense, primal aura—lustful, commanding, divine.
The mark of the Lust Sovereign burned faintly on his chest, visible even beneath the torn silk. It pulsed in time with his heartbeat, golden veins spreading from it like roots digging into reality.
Aya and Lilith stood beside him, each touched by his evolution. Their eyes had changed—Aya's now glimmered with a silver fire, while Lilith's had darkened to a rich violet, almost glowing with enchantment.
Aya stepped closer, almost hesitant. "Elias... your aura. It's too strong. You're—"
"I know," he cut in, voice low but unwavering. "I feel it. Every thought, every desire... every emotion tied to me now."
> [Crimson Dominion Active – All bonded subjects now share emotional resonance with the Sovereign.]
Lilith smirked faintly, brushing a strand of hair behind her ear. "Then you better learn control fast. Or you'll burn every heart you touch."
Elias turned toward the horizon. The lands of Valtheria stretched out beyond the ruins—a continent run by corrupt kings, greedy sects, and ancient lust-fueled cults that once mocked his weakness.
Now?
They would kneel.
First Target: House Velmira
The system's map flared in his mind, illuminating a nearby noble estate—House Velmira, known for its underground harem auctions and black-market soul binds.
> [Quest Unlocked: Cleanse the Crimson Chains – Liberate or Dominate House Velmira]
[Reward: 2 New Harem Bonds. Unsealed Memory Fragment. Crimson Skill Upgrade.]
Elias grinned.
"We're starting there," he said, eyes narrowing. "And this time... no mercy."
Lilith summoned her whip, infused with her succubus energy. "Oh, I've waited to pay those pigs a visit."
Aya summoned her twin blades, lighter and faster now that she was awakened. "Let's rip them apart."
The three of them disappeared in a flash of light, the Crimson Dominion marking their trail in the sky.
House Velmira – One Hour Later
Screams echoed.
Nobles scrambled like rats in their gilded hallways. Crimson light tore through their arcane defenses like parchment.
Elias moved like a shadow of wrath, every step spreading a wave of lust-driven fear and awe. One touch—just one gaze—and their guards either fell to their knees or begged for release.
He walked straight to the auction stage, where two girls were bound in cursed chains, moments away from being sold.
> [System Detection: Compatible Bonded Targets Found.]
The chains snapped without effort.
Elias reached out. "You're free now."
But the girls didn't run. They looked at him... and knelt.
"Take us," the taller one said. "You broke the chains. We belong to you now."
Aya flinched slightly, unused to the effect Elias had now.
Lilith leaned in and whispered to her, "He's not just Elias anymore. He's becoming it—the Sovereign every system warned us about."
Elias closed his eyes briefly.
He felt their loyalty, their pain, their desire—for safety, for belonging, for power.
He would give them all of it.
But on his terms.
The Velmira estate burned behind them as Elias and his growing harem walked into the night.
> [New Harem Members Bonded: Serina and Nyla – Tier 1 Emotional Resonance Initiated]
[Crimson Dominion Growing: 6/∞]
Aya watched him from the side, unsure whether to fear or admire him.
Lilith smirked. "You're starting to enjoy this."
"I'm starting to understand it," Elias murmured. "This isn't just about lust anymore. This is war."