'Lust system': Rise of the Harem lord-Chapter 25: Rewrite the Rules (Phantom Tower Infiltration)

The morning light slanted through the window, soft and golden. But there was nothing peaceful about the air in Elias’s room. The four girls—Aya, Lilith, Mira, and Seris—sat in silence, nursing the aftershock of the battle in the corrupted coliseum.

Elias paced.

Barefoot. Shirtless. The Soul Echo Blade now sealed inside a shimmering mark on his forearm.

Something had changed.

Aya finally spoke up. "You said... we’re rewriting the rules?"

Elias stopped and turned toward them. "Yeah. I’m done being their puppet. This system—whoever built it—it thinks it owns me. Owns you. It manipulates our bonds, controls when we feel desire, even punishes me for caring."

Lilith crossed her arms, eyeing him. "So what’s the plan, Lord Rebellion?"

He smirked. "We hijack the system."

Mira blinked. "That’s not possible. System code is untraceable. Hidden behind endless encryption. We’re not even allowed to see beyond the surface interface."

"True," Elias said, pulling out a crystal node from under his bed. It pulsed faintly—blue, fragile. "But this... came from inside the Corruptor’s code. When I struck him down, the system marked it as ’unclassified residue.’ It’s a backdoor."

Seris—silent until now—leaned forward. "A backdoor... to the core AI?"

"Possibly," Elias said. "And if we reach the core, we can change the constraints. Remove the no-love clause. Unbind the possessiveness tags. Restructure every intimacy bond to something real—not dictated."

Aya’s brows furrowed. "But that would mean..."

"War," Mira finished. "Against the system’s architects."

Lilith cracked her knuckles. "Finally. Something I can stab that actually matters."

Elias opened his interface.

> [New Personal Mission: Break the Chain]

"Access the Core AI through the Phantom Tower. Danger Level: Terminal."

But that wasn’t all.

A new screen flashed.

> [Warning: Soul-Linked Hostile Detected.]

[Name: Arkanis – The First Harem Lord]

"System Master. Bound to the original code. He is watching."

Elias’s jaw clenched. "He’s coming."

Aya stood. "Then we better be ready."

He turned to the girls—each of them still healing, still shaken—but fire now flickered behind their eyes.

"Here’s how we move," Elias said. "Tonight, we infiltrate the Phantom Tower through the Eden district. Mira, you’ll hack the system’s proximity dampeners. Lilith, you lead crowd control. Aya, you’re with me—direct link to the node. Seris stays behind to monitor the surge."

"And when we reach the Core?" Mira asked.

Elias looked each of them in the eyes. "We rewrite the rules. I don’t want to be your master. I want to be your equal. And if that means breaking this entire damn system—I’ll do it."

The room went quiet.

Then Lilith snorted. "Took you long enough to grow a pair."

Aya blushed. Mira nodded. Seris... just smiled.

---

Later That Night

The Phantom Tower shimmered in the distance—black glass laced with red veins of data.

Above it, a rift opened for a second... and a silhouette stood within it.

Tall. Cloaked. Unmoving.

> [Arkanis: You are not ready.]

Elias didn’t flinch. He stepped forward, flanked by the women who’d risked everything to stand beside him—not because of some system command, but because they chose to.

"I don’t need to be ready," Elias said under his breath.

"I just need to be pissed off enough."

He walked into the darkness.

The Phantom Tower stood like a black monolith under the night sky, pulsing with red veins of corrupted data. A chill hung in the air—unnatural, crawling along the skin like the touch of something watching.

Elias stood at the base, his coat fluttering in the wind. Beside him were the four—Aya, Mira, Lilith, and Seris—all dressed for stealth, their eyes locked on the impossible height of the tower.

> [Mission Update: Infiltrate the Phantom Tower]

[Danger Level: Lethal]

[Reward: Core Access Key – 1/3]

"Once we step inside," Elias said, tightening his gloves, "the system’s gonna throw everything it’s got to stop us."

Mira tapped into her neural interface, fingers glowing as code scrolled down her lenses. "I’m disabling the outer tripwires. We’ve got thirty seconds."

Lilith cracked her neck. "Plenty of time to kick something in the face."

Seris held her staff tight, calm as ever. Aya, meanwhile, slipped closer to Elias, her voice low. "Do we stick to stealth... or make a statement?"

Elias’s smile was thin. "Let’s announce ourselves."

Mira snapped her fingers.

The tower’s outer shield shimmered—then cracked like glass.

They stepped in.

---

Inside the Tower

The lobby was a maze of silver illusions. Walls shifted. Floors pulsed. And from the ceiling, they descended.

System Wraiths—faceless beings of red smoke, shaped like women Elias had known... but distorted. Twisted. Begging. Laughing.

One reached for him. "You don’t love them. You only desire them..."

He swung the Soul Echo Blade through her.

Memory triggered. Aya crying, hugging him in the bath. Whispering, "Even if I can’t have your love... I want your truth."

The Wraith screamed and vanished.

"Don’t look at their faces!" Mira shouted. "They scan your guilt and copy it!"

Lilith charged with twin daggers ablaze. "That’s fine. I’ve got no regrets."

Blood-red shadows danced around them as they climbed deeper. Each floor had a new challenge:

Floor 10: Lust Traps – where Aya was almost bound by a false Elias whispering lies into her ear.

Floor 12: Pleasure Simulations – fake versions of Lilith and Seris tried to seduce Elias and overwrite his memories.

Floor 15: The Mirror Hall – where every girl saw a version of themselves they feared becoming.

But they pushed through, bruised but stronger.

---

Floor 20: The Throne Room (Trial 1 of 3)

A massive door opened with a hiss.

Inside sat a man on a throne of glass. Black cloak. Red eyes. Pale skin that shimmered like ink.

Arkanis.

Elias stepped forward alone.

"So you’re the first Harem Lord," he said.

Arkanis chuckled softly. "And you’re the defiant one. The system warned me about you."

"It controls love. Chains intimacy. Punishes emotion. I won’t live by its rules."

Arkanis stood. "And yet... you use it. You feed on its trials. You crave the power it gives."

He raised his hand.

> [System Trial: Duel of Dominion Initiated]

Elias vs Arkanis – Round 1

The floor shattered beneath their feet as digital swords clashed. Arkanis was fast—inhumanly fast—and his blade fed on regret.

Elias fought defensively, striking only when emotion surged behind his strikes. Each time his blade touched Arkanis, flashes of memory burst:

Aya’s laugh.

Lilith’s punch.

Mira’s loyalty.

Seris’s silence that meant everything.

> [Soul Echo Blade – Lv.2 Experience: 98%]

But then—Arkanis sliced across Elias’s chest.

Blood.

And the trial paused.

> [Warning: Host Damage Reaching Critical Threshold]

[Soul Fracture Detected]

Arkanis raised his hand. "You’re not strong enough yet."

And with a final blast of corrupted code—he vanished.

---

Aftermath

Elias dropped to one knee, coughing blood. Aya and Lilith rushed to his side.

"He was... holding back," Elias muttered.

Mira checked the interface. "The Core is on floor 50. We’re almost halfway."

Elias grinned, teeth red. "Then let’s stop playing fair."

Aya stared at him. "Are you going to survive this?"

He reached up and wiped her cheek gently. "Only if you all stay with me."

Lilith gave him a punch to the shoulder—gentle for once. "Then don’t die yet, dumbass."

---

[Trial Incomplete – Core Access Key Fragment 1 Secured]

[Soul Echo Blade – Lv.3 Unlocked: Echo Projection Available]

The Phantom Tower trembled.

The next battle wouldn’t be about survival.

It would be about freedom.

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