Incubus Awakening: The More I Lust, The Stronger I Become

"Oh, you remember me?" Sabrina asked.

"Of course. You used to go by the training grounds that my sister and Zack would visit. Your father is a friend of my stepfather, so it would be a little hard not to know your name." The younger Logan wiped away blood oozing from his lip.

That wasn't the only thing. His skin was marked with a number of cuts and bruises. Each time he moved, he'd experience an intense twinge.

"This—Zack did this to you, didn't he? But why? I thought you guys were friends."

"We were, but we kind of fell out once my sister lost her Gift. It didn't help that I stopped talking as much afterwards. Then, I suppose, when he saw me here, he just couldn't stop himself from getting back at me. I can't say I don't deserve it."

Sabrina shook her head, warming his temple with the palm of her hand. "You shouldn't say such things, Logan. No matter what happened between the two of you, this is simply unacceptable."

Logan blushed. "Y-you... you're touching me?"

"Hm? Why wouldn't I?"

"Well, it's just that each time I walk through the hallways, people avoid me like the plague."

"The plague? You can't be serious. There's nothing wrong with you, so just sit still." Logan was half-committed to closing his eyes when he noticed something—a light.

Not from the sky, but from pure, light skin. It was Sabrina, illuminating brighter than any star.

Without warning, the ghastly apparition teleported in front of Logan. Then, he asked this:

"What did you think about in this moment?"

Logan, bewitched by the memory, had to readjust his focus. Then, a simple answer. "Love. It was love at first sight—"

"Errrrr! Wrong, that one!" the apparition jeered, then spun around him like an annoying fly. "Tell me the truth, Logan. What did you think?"

"Logan...?" Pixel questioned, taking note of something—the way his hands jittered, then went taut. His eyes moved from one place to another, failing to look directly in the apparition's eyes.

"Well, Logan? Are you going to answer my question, or should I do it for you?"

Logan sighed, head facing his younger self. No, rather, where his eyes were fixed. They didn't stare at Sabrina—no, it was something else. They were laser-focused on her breasts.

"Her body. I was thinking of her naked body," he admitted.

The apparition laughed. "My, you actually said it!"

"Yes, I see it now. The reason I tolerate the bullying from my peers is that I search for other emotions, hoping that something will awaken in me, and I'll become more human.

The truth is this: I have not, for a single moment of my life, felt love before desire. Every waking moment has been spent falsifying my character, pushing it deep down.

There's always been something at the back of my head—gnawing at me. Begging to be satiated. And I think I've always known it was there, but ignored it.

And this is all because of something I was born with. It's plagued me for as long as I can think. Because of you, since you're the creature that lies inside me, correct? The one that transformed my body and allowed me to survive the initial confrontation with Pixel? The thing that has made me into this monster."

The apparition howled with delight, snapping his finger. Pixel, on the other hand, just looked up at Logan... flatly.

"That was the right answer, Logan! Indeed, you are incapable of hiding your desire—not of any fault of yours, but just because of who you are. But let me set one thing straight." His face straightened. "I am not you, or your powers, though you could say that it is a part of me. I am lust."

"My lust...?"

Lust paused, then continued. "Every time you gave pretty words to a girl, yet had your mind wander to her pretty bits, I was there. Your powers are built on lust, and in your quest to deny them, you've also denied me."

"Then what should I do?"

"Accept me with all your being. Allow the lust to seethe inside you, and grant you strength."

"If I do, will I be able to claim all that I desire?"

"Yes. Without a doubt. But do know that if you go through with it, you may find it impossible to love."

Lust kept its hand raised, waiting for Logan's own to come into contact. Pixel, who'd sat quietly the entire time, gripped him even tighter. "Logan, are you truly ready for what this power has in store?"

"That's exactly the problem, Pixel. This power isn't foreign. It's always been inside of me—a part of me. All I'm doing is accepting it, and in the process, myself."

Raising his own hand, Logan clasped onto Lust's. For the first time, he'd felt his touch—or, rather, lack thereof.

It felt like he was tugging on something that wasn't there, barely taking form inside the world. And yet, he'd never felt as close to home.

The world rippled, time itself bent, and his images of the past flew by him. He saw the image of Selene's bloodied body, barely clinging to life.

Her image burned to ash, along with any other reservations he'd had. There was no room for trauma, after all, when your lust burnt brightest.

Then, the battle station once more. His body—sticking out in all the wrong directions from incredible amounts of damage—sizzled with life.

'Careful, Logan. Misuse this strength, and you'll find that desire is a flame oft kept on the low. Don't get consumed by it," Lust warned, coming from nowhere in particular. Then, silence.

Logan glowed with life, and so, too, did his core. Mana shot out from him, filling the entire expanse.

Students at the front row of the stands found themselves leaning forward, and Zack—who stood opposite him—hung back, appalled. "What?" he gasped, covering his face from the powerful lashes of pink.

Logan was back, with a sigil popping through his clothes to reveal his power.