Chapter 13: Trial of the Devourer – When Lust Consumes All
Volume 2: The Origin Lustcore – Harem of the End
Arc 2: Lust vs Love Trials Begins
> [Status: Kalysta Recruited – Layer Three Unlocked]
[Next Trial: The Devourer's Hunger]
---
The gate pulsed open with a heartbeat of flame and silk.
Kalysta stood beside me, arms folded, expression unreadable.
"This next one... she's not like me," she muttered. "She doesn't hunger for love. She eats it."
"Sounds charming," Lilix snorted, hand on her dagger.
System Ping:
> [New Trial Initiated: The Devourer of Desire] [Survive the Realm of Infinite Hunger]
---
We were swallowed by the gate. Reality shifted.
We stood on an obsidian island floating in a red void, surrounded by towering bones and clawed statues. Rivers of molten pleasure writhed like serpents, whispering forgotten names.
A throne of writhing mouths rose from the center, and seated upon it...
A woman.
No. A thing.
Naked and shifting, her flesh morphed constantly—part goddess, part nightmare. Her tongue licked crimson lips that weren't hers seconds ago.
"I am Xal'tharrah," she purred. "Devourer of all pleasure. You, sweet boy, reek of love. I will suck it out... slowly."
Elyria drew her bow. "Not today, witch."
Xal'tharrah cackled, and the throne screamed.
---
The first attack came without warning.
Tentacles of memory wrapped around Rhyssara, yanking her into a pool of liquid desire. She vanished beneath.
"RHYSS!" I screamed, diving after her.
Inside the pool was a mirror-world. Rhyssara was chained, reliving every cruel whisper from her past.
"She's feeding on our trauma," Seraphina growled. "This is a psychosexual battlefield."
Kalysta nodded grimly. "If we don't anchor to what we love—what's real—we'll drown in our own lust."
---
One by one, we were tested:
Elyria faced a fantasy where she married me and abandoned divinity.
Nyxira was offered a second chance to undo her betrayal.
Kalysta saw herself as a girl who could love... and it broke her.
I faced all of them. Versions of each girl that begged me to stay in the illusion.
"I'm your perfect dream," one version of Seraphina whispered.
"But you're not real," I replied—and let her go.
Pain sliced me as I resisted.
But that pain was truth.
---
We regrouped, bloodied and breathless.
Rhyssara broke free first.
She didn't scream.
She sang.
A harsh, broken lullaby she sang to herself in the cage as a child.
It echoed through the realm like a warcry.
Xal'tharrah shrieked, covering her ears.
We struck.
Lilix led the charge.
Elyria unleashed divine arrows of guilt and truth.
Nyxira summoned black flames from regret.
Kalysta... kissed me.
Not for pleasure.
But to anchor herself.
"You're the only lie I wish was true," she said.
"I'll become your truth," I whispered back.
---
Xal'tharrah lunged.
Her mouths roared. Her form expanded, a writhing mass of endless desire.
I activated the Lustcore Fragment.
[System Fusion Initiated: Lustcore Link – Host: Kairo | Sync: 76%]
My aura flared. Every sensation she tried to steal—I gave willingly.
"You can't devour love," I said. "Because it only grows when shared."
I unleashed it.
Every moment with my harem. Every laugh. Tear. Breath. Shared sin and shared salvation.
She screamed.
And imploded.
---
Silence.
The island crumbled. The void parted.
In the ashes, a single flower bloomed—a black rose.
System Update:
> [Trial Cleared: Devourer Defeated] [Title Gained: The Flame That Feeds] [Harem Link Stabilized +12%]
Kalysta picked the rose and handed it to me.
"Don't forget what we had to kill to keep our love alive."
"I won't," I said.
We stepped into the next light.
Valtheria whispered...
"You're too close, Kairo. When you reach my core... you'll have to choose.
Me.
Or them."
> [End of Chapter 13]
[Next: Chapter 14 – The Saint Who Sold Her Halo]