It had been a week since Alice's advancement to become a Living Vessel of Desire.
Ashen had no idea how she intended to embody such an epithet, though he hardly had the luxury to dwell on it. The Narkals had begun pouring from the inner regions once more.
As a result, he was redeployed to the front lines, and this time he wasn't the only one. His dear little sister had been sent along with him.
For the first few days, he remained skittish over the whole affair, barely able to focus on his own opponents as he asked about her every other minute. But after watching her slice through Narkals with the same ease their mother reserved for chopping vegetables, he had no choice but to admit it...
His little sister was a monster in her own right, and at least against enemies of this caliber, his worries had been entirely redundant.
*
Today was yet another day in which the Narkals made their brutal, destructive nature known.
Ashen's position repositioned rapidly under Alice's commands as he disintegrated every beast in his wake, eventually bringing him to the region where Lapis was stationed.
SLIIIICK
The brief lull gave him the chance to observe her more closely, and the longer he watched, the more satisfied he became.
Unlike the soldiers around her, she wore an enhanced military uniform he had commissioned after she remarked that conventional armor simply didn't suit her fighting style.
And with a single glance, it was easy to understand why.
Even someone utterly unfamiliar with combat would immediately recognize that the defining trait of her fighting style was speed.
Narkals twice her size collapsed the instant her curved blade left its sheath. The weaker variants didn't even need to be her target—so long as they stood within reach, a single draw of her sword was enough to bisect them.
Draped in the swirling darkness clinging to both her attire and blade, Lapis achieved the impossible. The bloodthirsty beasts actively avoided her.
And as though she could smell the fear emanating from them, a faint smile crept across her face as she waltzed through the battlefield, slicing and dicing everything in her path.
The soldiers behind her stood in stark contrast to the terrified Narkals. Their eyes burned with fervor as they shouted her name, rallying around her and charging wherever she led.
'How did she win them over this fast...?' That was Ashen's greatest source of bewilderment as his perception swept across the battlefield while he erased the stragglers.
Honestly, coming to this sector had been unnecessary, strictly speaking. Lapis appeared to have everything well under control with the help of her overly enthusiastic new admirers.
But Alice knew he would worry if they skipped the detour, so after determining that his absence elsewhere wouldn't affect the battle, she indulged him.
'Still… at this rate, it won't be long before she reaches the Third Step.'
That wasn't the only remarkable thing. Unlike the average citizen of Seravelle, whose early Steps primarily granted little more than increases in physical capability, each of Lapis's advancements made her exponentially deadlier.
'Her compatibility with Gluttony must be exceptionally high…' Ashen thought as he watched the gluttonous darkness slowly consume the flesh surrounding every wound it touched.
'Well, this is for the best,' he thought with joy. 'Grow… keep growing… and become as strong as you can be…'
***
Ashen's eyes fluttered open.
The first thing he noticed was the three women draped all over him. Alice and Lucia occupied either side, each hugging one of his arms close to her bosom, while Seraphine straddled his waist with her legs resting on his sides, using his torso as her makeshift bed.
The position would normally have been uncomfortable, but with their now-supernatural bodies, it merely allowed them to stay close without the cramped muscles such a posture would have inevitably caused.
The previous night had begun with yet another heated bout of lovemaking between him and Alice. Now that her new skills both demanded it and benefited from it, they finally had an excuse to indulge to their hearts' content without their consciences pricking them over doing so in such troubled times.
His other two lovers, however, were far less pleased with that arrangement.
After allowing the pair a few nights to themselves, they had decided to barge in the previous evening in protest, giving Ashen the pleasure of experiencing his first foursome, skipping the threesome milestone entirely.
'Hmm... I'm glad they're this feisty,' he thought, a lingering grin tugging at his lips. 'It gives one something to look forward to tomorrow, even in a place as dreary as this…'
Eventually, they had all drifted off to sleep. But when they closed their eyes, it wasn't darkness that greeted them but another Absentia.
The last few meetings over the past months had been largely uneventful, save for Edward commissioning them to keep him informed of the war's progress.
Ashen and the others had tactically left that responsibility to Sabrina and Lapis. The former reported on the condition of the upper echelon, while the latter relayed the situation among the rank-and-file soldiers.
Their decision to refrain from participating wasn't merely out of convenience. Edward's chosen form of payment was personal training, after he had admirably demonstrated his competence in that regard during their second meeting.
They had concluded it was better for the two who had never received his instruction to seize that opportunity instead. More importantly, there remained the possibility that Edward would recognize them if he observed their fighting styles.
After all, he had been the one who trained them.
Aside from that, the dreamscape was primarily used exactly as "Lord Mercy" had described it: a sanctuary where weary minds could find respite, far removed from the endless conflicts.
With all the arrangements he had made within that space, sleeping there had elevated the quality of their rest to an entirely different level.
'Now that the current members are stable enough… perhaps it's finally time to add another?' Ashen mused.
He did not have long to dwell on the thought before his lovely Saintess stirred from her dreams. Her eyelashes fluttered delicately before her eyelids slowly parted, revealing those innocent, sky-blue eyes.
"My love..."
"Good morning, precious," he answered with an adoring smile.
She let her fingertips gently trace the contours of his face as she sighed dreamily.
"Hum~ Seeing you first thing in the morning is a blessing I'd rather never live without."
Ashen simply smiled back, gazing at her in silence. She didn't mind. More often than not, he expressed his love through actions rather than words.
...whether those actions protected her from everything else or drowned her in sinful delight.
"Your eyes..." he eventually murmured. "It seems they still haven't returned to normal."
"My pupils?" She already knew what he meant: the butterfly-shaped irises that had become part of her gaze.
"I never told you?" She tilted her head curiously.
"From what I can tell, it's a mutation that appears before one loses control. The only reason I never mentioned it... was because I knew you were never in any danger of doing so."
"Hmm..." Seraphine's eyes softened into a half-lidded gaze. "You're right. Back when we had just separated after the tutorial, when my Sin was still Lust... I nearly lost control a few times." She smiled faintly. "It turned out all right in the end."
"I'm sorry..."
His fingers gently brushed beneath her eyes. She leaned into the touch before shaking her head.
"It's not your fault, if that's what you're thinking. It was simply the stress... especially after they told me you wouldn't survive being sent to the Ashbastion."
She laughed softly at herself.
"The way I dealt with that stress... was through lust. I'd think about you while I touched myself and pour every feeling I had toward you through our bond, hoping, however foolishly, that it would make even the slightest difference."
She gave another sheepish smile.
"...I suppose I overdid it. That's probably why my eyes changed."
"You weren't foolish."
He leaned forward to place a gentle kiss upon her nose, earning an involuntary giggle.
"Your feelings reached me. They eased my own burdens more than once, so I'd say it was the furthest thing from foolish. You already know that."
"Yes~"
He smiled before brushing another affectionate kiss against her forehead.
"Besides..."
He looked into her altered eyes.
"They're beautiful."
Her smile blossomed.
"Then I'm glad to have them~"
She decided to finally retaliate against his feather-like kisses after hearing that, and before long, the muffled moans and the sloppy exchange of saliva were enough to rouse the other two women from their slumber. Sleepily, they shifted closer, each silently demanding her share of his attention.
Ashen's eyes narrowed with contentment. For a fleeting moment, he could almost lose himself in the warmth surrounding him.
But the persistent warning of his intuition… the one that had haunted him since the day it first appeared… continued to ring within the back of his mind.
'...Whoever you are…'
He drew all three of them a little closer.
'...you've made the gravest mistake of your life by setting your sights on them.'