She left her throne and walked over to him. It felt like the air between them was crackling with energy.
"I'm going to send you back to a new world of fantasy. Not as a noble hero with strict tasks, but as my Apostle."
Axel started to think inside his mind, and he knows what he's about to do to him. "She's talking about reincarnation to a fantasy world, huh...? Something that I used to watch and read so that I can do something that the villains do there."
"I'm going to give you a system of power, not a system of virtue. It was more like a system that rewarded you for excelling at what you do best."
"I fucking knew it..." Axel smirked. "Which one?"
Lustia smiled. "It's about wanting people to desire you and making them crave your presence."
"And then driving them to the point where their obsession becomes a tangible force." She paused right in front of him, and he noticed the red dots in her violet eyes spinning faster.
"The Lust Authority System."
"A gift that will give you raw power over every connection and bond you make."
"The more someone wants you, the stronger you get. And the more obsessed they are, the more you can control them and the world."
Axel's mind was already trying to figure out what this meant. "You're using relationships to get power, huh?"
"Now that's a fucking good offer I can take because I can already sense it through my libido that there's going to be many women in another world I can dominate and make them my toy..."
Lustia stated, "What I'm about to give you is something that transforms power from truth."
"People often deceive themselves."
"They pretend they have no needs, as if they've risen above such basic instincts, but their desires reveal their true selves."
"Stripped of pretense and social conditioning, what they genuinely want becomes clear."
"The Lust Authority System just makes that truth clear and useful." She ran her finger along his jawline on purpose and carefully.
"You'll be able to mark targets, make their current attractions stronger, and make their fixations stronger until they become obsessions."
"Every bond you make will make you stronger."
"You will get stronger with every heart you take. And my virtue system doesn't have any moral rules, unlike the sad one the other goddess offered."
Axel said, "I see... so no punishment for being myself," and he began to understand.
"Yes, exactly."
"The system doesn't care if you're good or bad. It only cares about the outcome."
"It only cares about desire." Lustia's hand moved from his face to his chest, right over where his heart would be if he still had a body.
"And the best part? Every person you bind to yourself and every person who becomes devoted to you makes the Goddess of Life's domain weaker."
"She gets stronger by loving others and being selfless. Of course that will ruin you."
"You'll turn love into possession, devotion into obsession, and hope into need. You'll ruin her power from the inside out without ever raising a sword."
Axel thought about this, going over the offer in his mind with the same cold logic he had used for every deal in his previous life. "What's the catch?"
"There are always strings attached to contracts this good."
Lustia's face changed to show what could have been respect. "Good boy."
"Yes, there are conditions."
"First, you'll have my mark on you."
"People who can sense such things will call you my Apostle. That will make you enemies with the gods."
"Second, the system feeds on desire, which means you need to keep making new connections and strengthening the ones you already have. Weakness is the same as stagnation."
"Third, and this is important, the bonds you make through the system are not strong. People who are obsessed become less stable."
"You'll have to deal with people whose whole emotional life is based on you. That could be risky."
Axel said, "I can handle dangerous."
"I'm sure you can." Axel noticed that Lustia's breathing had changed a little and it had become more deliberate.
"One more thing. The system needs to be set up."
"It must comprehend the profundity and essence of desire, not merely as an abstract notion, but as an experiential reality. Before it can work right, it needs to taste real desire, without any filters or limits."
Axel raised an eyebrow. "Are you saying that desire has to turn on the system?"
"I'm saying that I need to taste your desire first, and you need to taste mine." Lustia's voice got lower, almost like a purr. "Think of it as a ritual that ties you together."
"The desire, the obsession, and the raw hunger of wanting to power the system."
"It needs a base, a plan to work from. And what better example than the love between a mortal who accepted his dark side and a goddess who rules over it?"
Axel felt something other than detached amusement for the first time since he got to hell. There was a stirring of real desire, carefully controlled but definitely there.
Lustia didn't want him to submit to her or worship her. She was offering to be partners, not through prayer or devotion, but through letting each other do what they wanted.
Axel said, "I see how it is..."
"You're attracted to me," and he could tell by the way her pupils had gotten bigger with a heart shape that appeared out of nowhere and the slight flush on her pale skin.
Lustia laughed, and it was a real laugh. "Of course I am."
"You are precisely what I like best."
"A man who chose to go to hell instead of being saved, who looked a goddess in the eye and told her to go to hell, and who fell into the abyss laughing."
"You are so honest that it almost seems rude."
"You don't act like you're better than you are, and don't make excuses."
"You're a monster who knows what he is and loves it." Her hand moved from his chest to his shoulder, and the way she touched him stressed that she wanted him.
"I've been waiting a long time for a soul like yours, Axel Graves."
"And now that I have you, I'm not going to let you go until I'm full."
Axel felt a smile pull at his lips. "And what if I say no?"
"Then I'll send you back anyway, because I respect free will, unlike that boring Life Goddess, but knowing your track record with women... you won't deny it, especially if your libido is that strong."
Lustia's other hand came up to match the first, and now both of her hands were on his shoulders, with her face just inches from his. "I know you want this... I can see it in those eyes."
"Not because I'm forcing you to and not because you're desperate or broken, but because you like this kind of honest deal."
"There's no pretending in it and no lies between it..."
"It's just two people who want something from each other and are willing to pay for it."
He had no reason to disagree with her. "Then let's make sure this contract is signed."
Lustia's smile was a mix of victory, hunger, and real happiness. "Finally. A person with sense..."
"Try to dominate me like you dominate a lot of your victims' wives..."
What happened next was not a gentle intimate thing to do between them. It was a raw, intense, and completely honest, a clash of desire between a soul that had turned its back on heaven and a goddess who ruled hell.
There were no flowery words or romantic gestures, just pure desire acted on without hesitation or shame. Lustia took what she wanted with the confidence of someone who had been around since before people learned to lie about their needs.
Axel met her with the same unflinching honesty that had defined his whole life.
In that red space, time lost its meaning. It could have been minutes, hours, or even days.