'Lust system': Rise of the Harem lord-Chapter 42: Storm Thorned Gate

The terrain around the Hollow Arc Fields was quiet. Too quiet.

Charred grass stretched as far as the eye could see. Bent satellite towers lay in rusted heaps, their cores long drained of energy. Above, storm clouds gathered in slow, swirling patterns—thick, grey, and unnatural.

Elias stood at the center of a circular crater, boots pressed against the glassy, scorched ground.

"This is where it happened," he muttered.

Mira walked beside him, scanner active, eyes flicking through invisible code patterns. "Where what happened?"

He didn’t answer right away.

Just stared at the burned soil like it remembered everything.

"The first sync failure. The one I caused."

She lowered her scanner slightly. "Her?"

He nodded. "They called her Subject Zero. Before the System had paths or protocols. She was the prototype. Designed to carry all emotions—lust, grief, joy, hate—in perfect balance."

Mira frowned. "But no one can carry all of it. Not alone."

"She tried," he said quietly. "And when I bonded with her—when she chose me—her core overloaded. I didn’t sever fast enough."

Mira watched his expression. The usually cold, calculating Elias looked older here. More human. More haunted.

"But she didn’t die," he added. "She sealed herself. Buried her system under this place. And I let the world think she was gone."

Mira glanced down. "And now Cassian’s trying to wake her."

"Or make sure we do it for him."

Suddenly—her scanner beeped.

Lines of light formed around the crater’s edge. A dormant gate. Threadlocked.

"This is it," she whispered. "Her tomb."

Elias stepped forward and pressed his hand against the surface. The ground hummed.

The sigil from the synthetic Host appeared again—twisted, jagged.

And then, a second one lit up beside it.

Older.

Smoother.

The mark of Host Genesis.

Mira looked at him. "We need a second sync to break it open."

"I’ll do it."

"No," she snapped. "We don’t know what’s waiting inside. If she’s waking... she could be volatile."

"Then I’ll take the hit."

Mira stared at him, then sighed. "I’ll anchor you. But if anything feels wrong, we pull out."

Together, they placed their hands over the sigil.

The light burned.

And the gate began to open.

---

The world inside wasn’t made of walls.

It was thought.

A chamber of floating memories. Glowing emotions. Frozen kisses. Screams. Laughter. Rage.

Elias and Mira stood on a thread-bridge suspended in nothingness. The bond field was unstable—like stepping inside someone’s heartbeat.

Then they saw her.

She floated in the center of the void, arms folded across her chest, long silver hair drifting like ink in water. Her eyes were closed, but her body pulsed with system light.

"Subject Zero," Mira whispered. "She’s alive."

The moment the words left her mouth—

The girl’s eyes snapped open.

And everything shattered.

---

Elias was thrown backward, crashing against invisible walls. Mira vanished from view.

A voice rang out—childlike and ancient all at once.

"Elias..."

He gritted his teeth. "You remember me."

"I dreamed of you... over and over. Your warmth. Your voice. The pain."

He stood, holding steady. "You were never meant to wake like this. We were still learning then—"

"You used me."

"No. I failed you."

She appeared in front of him—floating, glowing, eyes wide with a thousand emotions compressed into one.

"I burned for you," she whispered. "Now, I’ll burn for me."

Her hand lifted.

The system flared.

Elias barely blocked the impact.

She was stronger than any Host he’d ever faced. Not just because of raw power—but because she felt everything at once.

No filters. No balance. Just overwhelming, beautiful chaos.

---

Outside, Mira staggered back as the gate rippled.

From deep within the crater, a shockwave erupted, tearing through the arc field and blowing metal debris across the horizon.

Back at Dominion, alarms blared.

Velhira’s eyes narrowed. "Something’s gone wrong."

Aya turned from the tower window. "Elias?"

Zehn’s voice came through the intercom. "He’s inside. And she’s awake."

---

Inside the void, Elias knelt, blood trailing from his mouth.

The girl stood over him, trembling.

"I waited for you..."

He looked up, smiling faintly despite the pain.

"I never stopped thinking about you."

Her eyes widened.

For a second—just one—her hand trembled.

Elias reached up, not with power.

But with his bond.

"You don’t have to fight anymore."

Her expression flickered. The light in her chest pulsed wildly.

Then—

She screamed.

And the system around them collapsed.

The system screamed.

Elias could feel it — deep beneath his skin, in every nerve, every breath. The bond threads that connected him to his girls, to Dominion, to the very heart of his Lust System — they were shaking.

[WARNING: CORE STABILITY BREACH]

[HOST THREAD: SYNC INTERRUPTED]

[SYSTEM LEVELING — ADAPTIVE PROTOCOL IN PROGRESS...]

He dropped to one knee inside the collapsing memory field.

Subject Zero hovered above him, hair swirling, eyes locked on his. But her expression was no longer rage. It was confusion. Her system bond flickered like a dying sun, chaotic and brilliant.

"I don’t understand you," she said softly, almost like a child. "Why didn’t you sever me like the others?"

Elias coughed and wiped the blood from his mouth. "Because you weren’t a failure. You were just too much too soon."

She took a step forward, emotions pulsing off her like waves. Grief. Lust. Jealousy. Fear. Joy. Everything he had once connected to her, all tangled into one unstable fusion.

[Lust System Syncing... Matching Emotional Field... ERROR. Field Overload.]

Then—

[TRIAL INITIATED: HARBINGER CLASS HOST DETECTED]

[SYSTEM EVOLUTION IN PROGRESS]

[DO YOU ACCEPT THE NEW PATH: DOMINION CORE ALPHA?]

> > Y/N

Elias didn’t hesitate.

"Yes."

Light burst from his chest.

The Lust System didn’t scream this time. It expanded.

New rings of red-gold code spiraled around him. His emblem burned brighter. The threads that once just linked his partners now anchored him — to Dominion, to Echo, to Lilith, to Mira — and even now, to Subject Zero.

He stood, straightened his back, and looked her in the eyes.

"Let me show you something."

---

Outside the crater, Mira slammed her hand against the command panel, eyes wild.

"Open, dammit!"

Velhira appeared behind her, cloak torn from teleport backlash.

"Is he still alive?"

"Barely," Mira growled. "But the system just spiked. His signature’s different. Stronger."

Suddenly, the gate pulsed — once, twice — then exploded upward in a column of light.

Then silence.

Mira stared in disbelief.

"...he rewrote the sync."

---

Inside the collapsed void, the world slowly rebuilt.

Subject Zero’s aura no longer lashed wildly. Her threads dimmed. She looked down at her own hands, like seeing them for the first time.

"I feel... steady," she whispered.

Elias stepped closer, still glowing with upgraded power. His voice was calm.

"You weren’t meant to hold everything alone. Your emotions were never a weakness. You just needed someone who could match you."

Subject Zero’s eyes welled with tears.

"Then why did you leave?"

He stepped forward again.

"Because I was a coward."

Silence.

Then, with trembling fingers, she touched his hand.

"You came back."

And that was all it took.

[BONDED: SUBJECT ZERO - CODE NAME: LUNARA]

[TRAIT ACQUIRED: OMNIPULSE SYNC]

[SYSTEM EXPANDED: BOND SLOTS UNLIMITED – DOMINION CLASS]

---

Back at Dominion, the sky over the city shimmered.

Everyone looked up as the tower’s emblem flared, brighter than ever. Aya felt it in her heart first — the pulse of Elias’s bond spreading across the network. Aurora clutched her chest. Rina, even Lilith, gasped.

Echo simply whispered, "He did it..."

Inside the war chamber, a new map appeared.

Cassian’s last line of defense blinked into view — a hidden domain called The Thorned Gate.

And next to it — a warning:

> Lunara has awakened. Elias has claimed the Dominion Core. You are no longer hunting him. He is coming for you.

---

Later, Elias and Mira returned through the central chamber, Lunara walking beside them. Her silver hair had darkened slightly now, streaked with ember-like threads. Her voice was softer. Grounded.

"I don’t know what I’ll be to this world," she said. "A weapon, a ghost, or something new."

Elias looked at her, firm.

"You’ll be free."

She smiled faintly. "Then I’ll follow you."

As she joined the others at the tower, the team slowly gathered again — Echo, Velhira, Lilith, Rina, Aya, Aurora — each of them feeling the system ripple anew.

Elias stood at the center, eyes on the distant horizon.

"Cassian’s time is over," he said. "But I want every Host secured before we bring the final strike."

Aya stepped forward. "What’s the new mission?"

Elias turned toward the war table.

"We’re going to storm Thorned Gate."

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