The Lustful Villain: Every Milfs and Gilfs are Mine!-Chapter 169. The Second Tier Unlocked. Lily and Diana Are Now My Problem to Keep.

Chapter 169: 169. The Second Tier Unlocked. Lily and Diana Are Now My Problem to Keep.

"The Apostle gathering," Rex said. "The operational priority for the next ninety days is locating Mordecai’s stronghold."

"The methodology they’re developing has significant gaps that will slow them down, but it won’t stop them indefinitely."

"No," Lustia agreed.

"The introduction of Xavier-as-The-Undead-Bringer would redirect operational resources from location-focused work to response-to-active-threat work," Rex said. "Which is a different kind of problem that demands different kinds of attention."

"A city that knows a threat is coming eventually," Lustia said, "is easier to keep calm than a city that is actively under siege from someone they thought was on their side."

"And the undead demon army gives The Undead Bringer a scale that a single villain couldn’t project," Rex said. "When three hundred and twelve constructs show up with him, the network can’t treat it as a manageable individual threat."

"It has to respond to the threat to its existence."

"Which pulls every Apostle currently assigned to the search-for-Mordecai effort into immediate defense," Lustia said, completing the chain. "And Mordecai’s search for a stronghold is put on hold indefinitely."

Rex looked at her with a smirk. "You’re really enjoying this as an observer, huh?"

"I’m enjoying watching someone use all of their tools at once," she said. "It’s rare."

She finished the peach and set aside what remained with the easy gesture of someone for whom abundance was abundant rather than exceptional. "Now... moving on to my reason for bringing you here."

"I didn’t pull you here only to answer questions."

"I know," Rex said. "There’s probably something important you need from me."

"Nope... it’s just something that could at least help you."

She looked at him with a bright look that meant she was about to say something she had been looking forward to.

"How many maximum bonds have you reached so far?" she asked.

Rex said, "Five maximum bonds."

"Mara, Lily, Lilith, Marceline, and Diana," Lustia confirmed, and the way she listed them had the quality of someone recounting a genuinely impressive performance. "In what—a few weeks of concentrated effort?"

"With two threesome multipliers, a dungeon crisis, an archery challenge, and a corridor conversation before sunrise as your instruments."

Rex said, "The corridor was just a coincidence."

"The corridor was inevitable," Lustia said, sounding like someone who had seen the whole thing from a place he couldn’t get to. "Diana Von Starlight at ninety percent was already past the point of no return."

"You just had to wait for it to work itself out instead of trying to make it happen."

Rex didn’t say anything because she was right, and there was no point in confirming it anyway.

"Five maximum bonds activate the second tier of the Mark of Lust Authority," Lustia said, and the quality of her voice shifted from conversational to the tone she used when she was delivering the formal version of something important.

"You already know that your bonded partners are, at maximum desire, completely devoted to you and will not work against your interests in any deliberate way."

"What you don’t know yet is what the second tier adds to that."

Rex anticipated the surprise, knowing it would be something extraordinary.

"Your bonded partners at maximum desire can be called ’Subordinate Vessels of the Lustful Villain.’" Lustia said, "This is not an invitation you send or a contract they sign."

"It’s a part of the system that you turn on when you choose to include them, and once they’re in, it can’t be turned off."

"What does it give them?" Rex asked.

"A mask," Lustia said. "Well... not literally, though the physical form is a mask—a version of yours, changed to fit their own taste in ways that the system creates based on their identity."

"But the mask is the symbol, not the substance."

She leaned forward a little on the throne, put her elbows on her knees, and looked at him with the kind of focus she used when she wanted him to really understand something. "The substance is a part of the Lustful Villain’s power."

"It’s not equal to yours, since you are the main vessel and source, but it’s proportional and growing."

"They share your energy currency, and their combat skills grow with their existing skills through the channel the system opens between you."

"They become anonymous in the same way you’re anonymous," Lustia continued. "Their identities are protected in the same way that yours is."

"In some respects, their anonymity is superior to yours."

"The system makes their Subordinate Vessel identity separate from their surface identity, so if someone found the Lustful Villain and then found Lily Von Starlight, they wouldn’t automatically connect the two."

"The channel between you is below any detection method that exists in this world right now."

Rex thought about Lily. He reflected on her telepathic link, her deepest desires, and the genuine quality of her devotion, which stemmed from their strongest bond and made her feel authentic rather than merely pretending.

He thought about Diana as well, who was careful and precise and had amazing archery skills. She had just shown that she could adapt to strange situations, which made her potentially very useful in operational settings.

"I think..." He said, "Lily and Diana are the only two women that are worth working with."

"Lilith still made me feel disappointed, while both of the innkeepers can’t fight."

"Those would be my first two choices as well," Lustia said, and it was clear that someone who had already done the analysis agreed. "Lily for information network reasons..."

"...her telepathic link to you makes real-time coordination easy, her current social status in the Starlight family gives her access to conversations and spaces that even you don’t have, and her devotion baseline means the activation will be met with excitement instead of resistance."

"And Diana is probably for operational reasons," Rex said.

"Correct," Lustia said. "She is one of the best archers in Aethelgard." 𝙧𝙚𝙚𝔀𝒆𝓫𝓷𝙤𝓿𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝙤𝓶

"She has her own space in the Nightwing household that lets her move around and get things done outside of the Starlight network."

"As of last night, she was fully and irreversibly in the category of someone who would do things for you that she would not do for anyone else."

"When I activate it," Rex said, "they’ll know about the system."

"They’ll know about the Subordinate Vessel designation," Lustia said. "Not necessarily the whole system."

"What they know is calibrated to what they need to know to function effectively, which is that they have been given a role, a power, and a loyalty that is connected to you and to the Lustful Villain’s operations." She paused. "The devotion that comes with maximum desire means that knowing this does not produce fear or resistance. It produces clarity."

"They become tools that know exactly what they are," Rex said while smiling. "That’s actually fucking peak..."

Lustia looked at him for a second. "Indeed."

"They become partners with a full understanding of what they want," she said, which was a little different from how he had said it. "The maximum desire bond doesn’t make tools; it makes people who have truly aligned with you and are now working in line with it."

"The difference is important because tools break under pressure, but people who are truly aligned find ways to work even when the pressure is high."

Rex didn’t argue with this because it was a good point, and she was right about it.

"I’m curious about this..." he asked. "What about Lilith?"

"Lilith is already your subordinate," Lustia said. "The Succubus Maximum Bond produced a channel that operates differently from the human bonds."

"She’s not eligible for the Subordinate Vessel designation because she already has demon-native equivalent functionality."

"She’s more like a lieutenant than a subordinate vessel."

"Then there were Marceline and Mara," Rex said. "Both are useless because they can’t fight."

"Are exactly what they look like... the most devoted support infrastructure at the Silver Rest," Lustia said. "Not operationally necessary as Subordinate Vessels."

"Their function is exactly what it is now, and adding the designation to them would be pointless." She looked at him. "You can give out two awards whenever you want."

"Lily and Diana are the right ones, so use them well."

Lustia added. "And next time... if you want strong Subordinate Vessels, then I suppose you try to look for a strong woman, and there are a lot near you currently."

Rex knew who she was talking about and responded. "Helena, Elizabeth, Valentina, Iris, Elaris, and Morwenna... they’re going to be a hard target, but them being my Subordinate Vessels is going to be rewarding as hell."

"Correct."

"There’s also Apollo’s harem... I could at least use them as my Subordinate Vessels right?"

"Yes, yes, you get it, my sweet apostle."

Rex thought about the whole picture, including the new network structure it suggested, the new operational capabilities it added, and the new possibilities it opened up in the scenarios he was building.

"That’s everything I needed," he said. "I fucking dig all of this shit."

Rex looked at Lustia, and then for the first time he said, "Thank you."

"You really did help my ass a lot with these kinds of things."

"Well... not quite," Lustia said.

He stared at her. "Huh...?"

She smiled, and it was the kind of smile that said she had saved the best for last.

She said, "We need to talk about one more thing, and then I have a gift for you that I think will really motivate you."

"So you better get ready~!"