'Lust system': Rise of the Harem lord-Chapter 44: The Thorned gate 2

The Core of the Broken System

The chamber was silent.

Cold white lights spiraled overhead like synthetic stars. Bound to the walls were the lost Hosts—eyes empty, bodies trembling, their systems corrupted and twisted into weapons.

Cassian stood at the center of it all, arms outstretched.

"Welcome to the core," he said calmly. "Everything I’ve ever failed... lives here."

Elias stepped forward, flanked by Lunara, Echo, Lilith, and Velhira.

"You didn’t save them," Elias said quietly. "You hoarded them."

Cassian turned, the broken system halo spinning slowly behind his head. His skin glowed faintly now—data fused to flesh, remnants of a failed mirror host.

"No. I became them."

He lifted his hands—and the room screamed.

The bound Hosts convulsed, threads snapping as a dark mirror system ripped itself free from their chests and swirled toward Cassian like smoke.

> [WARNING: Entity Syncing with Mirror Core]

[Unstable System Detected – HARBINGER CLASS CONFIRMED]

[Initiating Dominance Protocol...]

Elias’s system flared. The Lust System burned through his veins, bonds lighting up in his mind—Lilith’s fire, Echo’s chaos, Lunara’s sorrow, Velhira’s shadows.

Cassian changed.

His skin cracked open, revealing a body woven from broken threads. His eyes held no pupils now—just spinning system sigils. His voice echoed in multiple tones.

"I’ve waited so long to be your equal."

Lunara stepped in front of Elias, her body glowing.

"No," she said coldly. "You were never his equal. You were just the ghost of a brother he outgrew."

Cassian snarled—and attacked.

---

The battle shattered the chamber.

Cassian moved like a glitch in space—disappearing and reappearing mid-strike. His threads lashed out, warping gravity, dissolving light.

Elias met him head-on.

Each blow shook the ground. Every system clash sent waves through reality. Lilith and Velhira kept the side rooms secure, cutting off Cassian’s corrupt code from infecting the others.

Echo danced around the chaos, channeling her five voices in a storm of unpredictable strikes. Lunara, steady as ever, synchronized with Elias on a level no one had seen before.

Still—Cassian pushed harder.

---

> [WARNING: System Overload Approaching]

[Thread Links Reaching Break Point]

Elias gritted his teeth.

"I can’t hold this pace much longer."

Lunara glanced at him.

"Then cut me in deeper."

He blinked. "You don’t know what that’ll do—"

"I do," she said. "It’s the only way."

Their hands touched.

> [Deep Bond Activated: LUNARA | CODE BREAKER PATH]

[System Sync 92%... 94%... 100%]

[New Skill Unlocked: Dominion Collapse]

Lunara’s body glowed blinding white—and she stepped through Cassian.

Not around.

Not beside.

Through.

A burst of light erupted from within his chest—his system core destabilizing.

Cassian staggered.

"No," he rasped. "I was—meant to—"

"You were meant to let go," Elias said, driving a final strike through the collapsing core.

Cassian fell.

The corrupted halo above him shattered into shards of black thread.

He reached up, his voice barely a whisper.

"...Elias..."

Elias knelt beside him.

"I should have stayed your friend," Cassian said, eyes fading. "You were the only one who ever saw me."

And then he was gone.

---

But the victory came at a cost.

Lunara collapsed into Elias’s arms, her body flickering with unstable light.

"The sync—it’s breaking me apart," she whispered.

"No," he said. "Hold on. I’ll—"

"I was never meant to last this long. But I’m glad... I lasted long enough to see you."

Elias held her tighter.

"I’m not letting you go."

But her threads were already dissolving.

Lunara smiled.

"You don’t have to. I’ll always be part of the system now... part of you."

She leaned forward—and kissed him.

A slow, deep, final kiss.

Then her body turned to light.

And was gone.

---

Outside, the Thorned Gate shattered.

The sky cleared.

Dominion Hosts stood silent, watching as the corruption finally vanished from the land.

Echo fell to her knees.

Lilith looked to the sky.

Aya closed her eyes, murmuring, "She did it."

Elias stepped out of the wreckage, alone.

His system still glowed—but different now. Stronger. Wilder.

And quieter.

Because Lunara’s voice was no longer echoing.

It was within.

> [Final Host Lost: LUNARA — ASCENDED]

[SYSTEM LEVEL UP COMPLETE]

[ALL BONDS — STABLE]

[THE WAR IS OVER]

After the Storm

The Thorned Gate no longer existed.

Where it once rose like a monument of corruption, only fragments remained—floating in slow, weightless ruin above the scorched land. Soft winds whispered through the air, as if the world itself was finally breathing again.

Elias stood on the broken edge of the cliff, coat fluttering behind him. He stared into the emptiness where Cassian had once ruled, where Lunara had vanished.

The Lust System’s interface was silent now.

Not gone.

Just... changed.

For the first time in what felt like years, it wasn’t pulsing with warnings, trials, or countdowns.

Just peace.

Behind him, Dominion’s surviving Hosts had gathered. Lilith stood near the temporary field tent, arms crossed, eyes scanning Elias for signs of collapse. Aya and Rina helped organize the wounded. Echo sat alone by the lake, her heads silent for once.

Mira approached Elias carefully, carrying a tablet of system data.

"You’ve been out here for hours," she said. "Talk to someone."

He didn’t look away from the void.

"I already did."

Mira paused. "Lunara?"

He finally turned, eyes tired. "She’s still in here. Not as a voice. Not as code. Just... warmth. Like a memory that remembers me back."

Mira didn’t reply.

Instead, she handed him the tablet.

"Something weird came through the system’s fringe."

Elias took it slowly. The screen pulsed with a foreign signature—sharper than the Lust System, older than Dominion, unfamiliar and cold.

"Another system?"

Mira nodded.

"We don’t know where it came from. Not one of ours. Not one of Cassian’s either. It just... appeared. Buried deep. Like it’s been watching this entire time."

Elias narrowed his eyes.

On the tablet, a single phrase flickered:

> [SYSTEM: EROS CORE DETECTED]

[TRANSMISSION INTERCEPTED...]

"The Dominion has risen... but the Thrones still slumber."

"Let us see if your Lord can survive what comes next."

[PATH: COSMIC BONDS — UNLOCKING SOON]

---

Back at the Dominion Tower, repairs had begun. But the tension in the air had shifted. Everyone felt it.

Victory wasn’t the end.

It was a warning.

Aya met Elias on the lower bridge as night fell.

"Will you ever rest?" she asked, arms folded.

He shook his head, a faint smile tugging at his lips. "Rest is for kings. I’m still just the Harem Lord."

She laughed softly, then leaned in.

"Then rule wisely. Because something out there just woke up... and they know your name."

The Cosmic Trial Begins

A storm of stars filled the sky that night.

Not clouds. Not illusions.

Stars.

Glowing symbols drifted across the heavens, forming strange constellations that pulsed with rhythm—like a heartbeat heard across dimensions. Every Host in Dominion felt it. Even those not fully bonded. It was... intimate.

And terrifying.

Elias stood alone atop the highest spire, the wind calm, his thoughts restless.

Suddenly—

> [System Trial Unlocked]

[UNIVERSAL EVENT: COSMIC BONDS]

[WARNING: This Trial Exists Outside of All Known Parameters.]

[Only a Core-Bound Lord May Survive It.]

A ring of golden threads spiraled into being around Elias.

He didn’t flinch.

"Talk to me."

The interface shimmered—and for the first time since Lunara’s loss, a new voice spoke.

But it wasn’t female.

It wasn’t robotic.

It was something ancient. Male. Whispering through time.

> "You have walked the halls of Lust. Worn power, pain, and passion like a crown. But the system was never yours. It was only... the key."

> "Now, you must ascend to the realm of Thrones. Or lose everything you’ve built."

The stars pulsed—and a doorway opened in the sky above him. Oval. Fractured. Like glass broken in space.

From the rift, a figure fell.

And landed in his arms.

---

She was unconscious.

Pale gold skin, like it had never seen a sun. Glowing marks on her shoulders and collarbone. Wearing a robe stitched with moving starlight. Her hair shimmered between white and deep space black, changing with every breath.

The system flared:

> [New Bond Path Detected: Interdimensional Anchor]

[Name: Serai (Host of the Celestial Veil)]

[Bond Status: Inert. Awakening Pending.]

Elias stared at her.

"...well, that’s new."

Behind him, Echo and Velhira appeared.

Echo raised an eyebrow. "You caught a goddess?"

Velhira’s eyes narrowed. "No. He summoned one."

---

That night, Serai woke in the med-wing, glowing softly under a sealed barrier.

Elias stood at her bedside. She stared at him with ancient eyes—but fear flickered beneath them.

"I was dying," she said, voice distant. "And your system pulled me in."

Elias nodded. "The Lust System’s evolving. It called you."

She reached out, touching the air between them—but didn’t cross the bond yet.

"My world is gone," she whispered. "The Thrones devoured it. Now they’re looking for you."

He frowned. "The Thrones?"

She looked him in the eyes.

"The beings who created the systems. Yours. Mine. Cassian’s. They’re not dead. They’re just asleep. And you just woke them."

---

Meanwhile, far across space—

In a broken dimension made of golden ruins and system flame—

A Throne stirred.

A massive figure, faceless and bound by chains of code, twitched in the void.

> [Error: Lust Core Detected. Breach in Bond Limitations.]

[Subject: Elias. Status: Ascending.]

> "Prepare the Heralds. He is not to reach the end."

---

Back on Dominion, Elias stood with Mira, Lilith, and the others at the central chamber.

Serai hovered behind him now, still weak—but watching closely.

"We’ve spent so long thinking we were cleaning up the old system," Mira said. "Turns out, we were being tested by something bigger."

"And now?" Aya asked.

Elias looked around the table—at every woman who had followed him through hell and back.

"Now we don’t clean up anymore."

He looked toward the stars. freewёbn૦νeɭ.com

"We rewrite the code."

Foll𝑜w current novels on fre(e)w𝒆bnovel