"I... I d-don't..."
I swallowed hard as I touched my stomach, where the sinking feeling was taking root as I looked at Sla'Caligo in a slight panic, only for that panic to disappear too, leaving entirely...
Entirely...
"Nothing... I feel... Nothing. No anger, no... sadness. Worry, joy, motivations... Just... empty."
"Good~! Now, can you tell sothing, my Masque? What makes you desire sothing?"
Blinking, I stared at the still pink Arch Fiend, the only source of color in this- no, one of two sources of color in this now grey world.
I turned my head to the side and saw Jahi still standing there, the Demoness back in her normal position as she held up her hands to prepare to cast that spell, her blue flesh standing out all the more in this sea of grey, whilst her athyst eyes stole my breath away like they always did.
"The... happiness and pleasure that cos from attaining it. Wanting to have that thing no matter what... Biologically, dopamine is released when you want to get sothing, as a motivator for you to get said thing. Psychologically though... you're chasing that high to have sothing that makes you feel good. The rush of adrenaline, the comforting pleasure... anything like that would make you want it more and more, until-"
"Until its not enough, and you crave more~? For instance, going from an untouched, inexperienced virgin into a needy woman who needs pain to get off, who wants to be choked and beat and dominated until her body is forced to acknowledge her inferiority?"
I swallowed hard again, nodding as I looked back to Cali and saw the arch Fiend smirking, the world slowly regaining its color as she stopped using her Lust Mana, the woman walking towards as she asked "You understand the concept well enough, and I've seen you try to attain it before, but... perhaps having it for a second will ignite the desire to obtain it again, permanently. We are bound together in a unique way, my Masque. You have the ability to tap into my own reserves of Lust Mana, just as I have the ability to absorb the Pleasure from your body to empower myself. Try it. You want that power, don't you? The power to be of more aid than just so sharp, clever mind~?"
She appeared in front of again, lifting my chin and leaning closer as she whispered "To steal the spotlight from Leone, to steal the hearts of your lovers all over again? To show this insufferable Fiend that its unique trinket ans nothing to you? Tza'Orbias made Anput bleed, after all. Doesn't that deserve repaynt? If you think it does..."
Pressing her brow against mine, Cali's lips lingered dangerously close to my own as she stared dead in the eyes, the Arch Fiend enshrouding with her scent, her heat, her softness and her beauty and almost her taste as well.
"Then take that power from and use it to kill this bastard. The battle is in our favor already, certainly, but let's not take any chances, hmm? Don't you want to ensure that this Fiend's blood gets spilt by YOUR hand? That YOU were the one to kill him? Think of all the power you could siphon off of its death... that's how your blessing works, right? You wanted to get stronger... so take it. Take my Lust Mana and wield it alongside your Ice Mana so that you can kill Tza'Orbias."
Circling around , Cali kissed my cheek as she added "I know you can do it, my Masque... You have great potential in all sorts of things, and Lust... Bloodlust, sexual lust, or just power lust all flow through you equally, even if you don't think they do~!"
The world began to return to normal, Anput flying through the air and stabbing her spear forwards into the Fiend's shoulder, the heavy tal weapon piercing its leathery blue flesh and slamming the weighty tip against its bone, drawing Tza'Orbias' attention away from the others for a split second as the Fiend snarled at the pain, only to have a serrated blade slice across its stomach, Satanya dashing across the street and scoring a cut before rushing away, much like the other Beliali Demons.
The words that Cali and I had shared echoed in my ears as I saw Anput nod at Satanya as she flipped away from the Fiend, the Jackalkin grinning as she summoned a new weapon made from her mana, launching herself back towards the Fiend a second later.
Seeing her acknowledgent and growing respect for Satanya, paired with the soft mutter from Jahi as she said "Not too shabby...", which made grit my teeth as I glared at the Fiend, directing my petulant anger towards soone that deserved it instead of uglying myself by being angry at soone I could be better than.
I know I can be better than Satanya, that I can do more damage than a simple gash!
Envy was a strong motivator, and when I wanted nothing more than to prove myself not only to them, but to myself, well...
Taking a deep breath, I focused on that fla that smoldered atop my crest and 'grabbed' at it, feeling sothing pleasant swelling around the crest that leeched onto my mana and began to change it.
The threads of ethereal cyan Ice Mana that I sent down towards the crest ca back tinted pink, and I could feel an incredible amount of power pulsing off of that strand as it made its way back towards my Core, which painted a smile on my face as I began to swiftly circulate my mana down towards the crest so that I could infuse as much of my normal mana with as much of this Lust Mana as I could.
Each mont added more and more of this comfortable bliss to my Core, warming up my entire body and making feel giddy as my Core was slowly refilled.
Looking at the silver ring, I refocused my attention on the battle at hand, not wanting to be so distracted that I couldn't act properly when I needed to, waiting for it to fluctuate with power like it did whenever that blue orb began to awaken.
That mont when it did would be when I would strike, and it would provide an opening for the others to capitalize on.
Jahi's Light Magic spell, Leone's potent Fire Magic, Ammit's powerful Lightning Magic, my new Lust infused Ice Magic...
All of that would be more than enough to bring this raven headed Fiend to its knees, and all we needed was an opening.
An opening that I know I could provide.
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