Lust Sync: Every Woman Wants Me Now

The tunnel reeked of ozone and burning concrete, the air thick with the acrid tang of scorched metal and shattered stone. The walls, scarred from the earlier clash, groaned under the weight of the collapsing transit hub, their cracks illuminated by the pulsating crimson glow that filled the space. Dust hung in the air like a shroud, choking the lungs and stinging the eyes.

Charles knelt in the rubble, cradling Alina in his arms. Her body twitched in broken spasms, her skin flushed a feverish pink, her eyes fluttering half-closed. Her Sync thread—once a golden lifeline connecting them—flickered in his vision like a candle caught in a storm, its light dimming with every shallow breath she took. The bond map in his mind burned, her thread fraying at the edges, threatening to snap entirely.

"Stay with me," Charles hissed, his voice cracking with desperation. "Don't you dare leave me, Alina!"

Her lips moved faintly, a ghost of a whisper. "…Charles…"

That single word pierced him like a blade, nearly shattering the fragile control he clung to. His heart thundered, the Red Core in his chest pulsing in time with it, a second heartbeat that roared with hunger and power.

Across the ruined tunnel, Omega stood grinning, blood glistening on his knuckles. His red aura pulsed like a heartbeat of hell, a twisted mirror of Charles's own. His eyes, black with rings of crimson, gleamed with sadistic delight. "You feel it now, don't you?" he taunted, his voice smooth and venomous. "The beauty of release. When a bond dies, your Core doesn't break—it feeds."

Charles's head snapped up, his eyes burning like molten crimson. The air around him crackled, his aura flaring with barely restrained violence. "You touched her," he growled, each word vibrating with a primal, animalistic fury that made the tunnel tremble.

Omega spread his arms, his grin widening. "I am you. Everything I do, you want to do. Everything I take, you crave to take. Stop lying to yourself. This power is—"

"MINE!" Charles's roar shook the steel beams overhead, and the Red Core exploded out of him in a shockwave of crimson energy. Dust rained from the cracked ceiling as metal groaned and pipes burst, spraying water that hissed against the heat of his aura. The lights overhead flickered and died, plunging the tunnel into darkness save for the pulsating glow of their twin auras, clashing like storms.

Behind him, Lia screamed, shielding Maya from the psychic pressure radiating from Charles's body. "He's… he's losing it!" she cried, her voice trembling with fear.

Maya gritted her teeth, dragging Alina's limp form further back, her hands glowing with faint Sync pulses as she tried to stabilize the fading bond. "If he goes full Core, we're dead before we even hit the surface!" she shouted, her face pale with exhaustion and terror.

---

### Inside the Red Core

Charles's mind split in two, a battlefield where his humanity and the Red Core waged war. On one side, the Core's power surged—raw lust, hunger, dominance. Every woman's fear and desire pulsed through him like a drug, intoxicating and addictive. He could feel Lia's trembling pulse, a red-hot thread of obsession that begged to be claimed. Maya's whispered prayer vibrated with a steady, defiant strength that called to him. And Alina—her fading heartbeat was a siren song, urging him to consume her essence to fuel his ascent. With a single thought, he could crush them, claim them, make them his in every way, their lives a sacrifice to his godhood.

On the other side, his human self screamed in protest, clinging to the man he'd been before the Core took root. He didn't want to be this monster. He wanted to protect them, to save them, to be the shield between them and the darkness. But the Core's whispers were relentless, promising a world where no one could challenge him, where every heart would beat for him alone.

> "You can't protect them by being weak," the Architect's voice purred, a seductive venom that coiled around his thoughts. "You are the storm now. And storms do not love—they consume."

"No," Charles snarled aloud, his voice echoing through the tunnel. "I'll control it. I have to—"

Omega appeared in front of him like a blur, his fist slamming into Charles's jaw with bone-crushing force. Pain exploded across his face, and with it, a surge of red lightning arced from his body, melting a steel beam like wax. The tunnel shook, debris raining down as the air itself seemed to scream.

Omega grinned, licking blood from his knuckles. "Good. Rage makes us beautiful."

---

### The Fight

The two collided in a blur of motion, a storm of fists and fury that echoed like gunfire through the tunnel. Each strike sent ripples of Sync energy tearing through the air, distorting reality itself. Concrete cracked, metal twisted, and the ground trembled beneath their feet as their powers clashed.

Charles grabbed Omega by the throat and slammed him into the wall, the impact sending a web of cracks radiating outward. "I'm ending you!" he roared, his voice a raw promise of violence.

Omega only laughed, his body morphing into smoke and sliding out of Charles's grip. He reformed behind him, raking his nails down Charles's back, leaving glowing red marks that seared like fire. The pain was excruciating, but it only fueled Charles's rage, his aura flaring brighter as he spun, swinging a punch that cracked the air itself.

Omega caught the blow one-handed, his eyes gleaming with sadistic glee. "You still care about them," he sneered. "That's why you'll lose. Let me prove it."

He vanished in a wisp of smoke, reappearing in front of Lia in an instant. Her eyes widened, a gasp escaping her lips. "Ch-Charles!"

Omega's hand wrapped around her throat, lifting her off the ground with effortless strength. "This one is already obsessed," he said, his voice dripping with mockery. "If I snap her bond, she'll die screaming your name."

Charles felt something in him break—a dam holding back the full force of the Red Core. He teleported, a feat he hadn't known he could do until that moment. One second he was ten feet away, the next his fist smashed into Omega's face, shattering the doppelgänger into red shards that dissolved into smoke. Lia fell into his arms, coughing and clinging to his chest, her nails digging into his back.

"Got you," Charles muttered, his voice low but trembling with barely contained fury.

Lia's eyes shimmered with tears, her breath ragged. "Charles… you feel… different…"

He knew she could sense it—the monster coiling inside him, its hunger growing with every beat of his heart. The Red Core pulsed, urging him to claim her, to feed on her fear and devotion, to make her his in a way that would break her forever.

---

### The Calm Before the Next Storm

They regrouped deeper in the tunnel, hiding behind the rusted husk of a derailed transit car. Alina lay limp against the wall, her breathing shallow, her body trembling with fever. Maya knelt beside her, her hands glowing with faint Sync pulses as she tried to stabilize the fading bond, but the readings on her makeshift device were dire.

"If her bond breaks fully," Maya said, her face pale and streaked with ash, "she won't survive the night."

Charles's jaw locked, his fists clenching until his knuckles turned white. "Then we fix this. Tonight."

Lia's eyes glimmered in the dim emergency red light, her voice trembling. "Charles… the Core is taking you. I can feel it in the bond. You're… darker."

He didn't answer. He couldn't. Because she was right. Every second he resisted the Core, it whispered promises of ultimate ecstasy and power—a world kneeling to him, every woman craving him to the point of worship. And a part of him—deep down, buried beneath his humanity—wanted it. Wanted the freedom, the dominance, the godhood.

The tunnel lights suddenly flared to life, bathing them in sterile white. The air grew heavy, oppressive, as if the hub itself were holding its breath.

Then the Architect's voice came, not just in Charles's head but echoing through every rusted speaker in the abandoned hub, a cold, mechanical proclamation that chilled the blood.

> "Subject Manson. The Merge Protocol has begun. You cannot run from what you are."

Charles looked up at a rusted security camera, its lens rotating toward him with a mechanical whir. His bond map flared in his mind, the three threads pulsing violently: Alina's golden thread, fading fast; Lia's burning red with obsession; Maya's trembling but steady, a beacon of defiance.

> "One of your bonds will die tonight," the Architect promised, its voice dripping with certainty. "Choose, or the Core will choose for you."

Lia gasped, her hand tightening on Charles's arm. Maya's hands shook as she continued her work on Alina, her lips moving in a silent prayer.

"Choose…?" Charles whispered, his voice barely audible over the hum of the tunnel.

The Architect's words cut deeper, each one a blade in his soul. "Kill one, save two. Refuse, and all three will burn."

The Red Core pulsed in his chest, hungry, demanding, its power surging with every heartbeat. Charles's breath came in sharp, uneven bursts, his vision swimming as he stared at the women around him. Alina, barely conscious, her life slipping away with every flicker of her thread. Lia, clinging to him, her eyes filled with a desperate mix of love and fear. Maya, whispering prayers, her steady hands the only thing keeping Alina alive.

He couldn't choose. He wouldn't. But the Core didn't care about his defiance—it demanded sacrifice, and it would take what it wanted.

---

### The Reclaimer's Arrival

The ground shook, a low rumble that grew into a deafening roar. From the far end of the tunnel, a massive Reclaimer unit emerged, its black armor shimmering with pulsating red veins that mirrored the Core's energy. It was twice the size of the units Charles had fought before, its mechanical limbs moving with a predatory grace that belied its bulk. In its right hand, a Sync Extractor Cannon whirred to life, its barrel glowing with a crimson light that promised annihilation.

> "TARGET LOCKED: Manson, Charles. Initiating Forced Merge," the Reclaimer's voice boomed, cold and mechanical.

The girls screamed, scrambling back as the unit advanced, its footsteps shaking the tunnel. Charles's Red Core flared, his aura exploding outward in a wave of crimson light that cracked the concrete beneath him. The air grew thick, oppressive, as his power clashed with the Reclaimer's.

The Architect's voice purred one final time, its words a chilling ultimatum. "Let go, Charles. Or watch them die screaming."

Charles's heart thundered, his mind racing as he faced the Reclaimer. The bond map burned in his vision, the three threads pulsing with desperate urgency. Alina's thread flickered, on the verge of breaking. Lia's burned brighter, her obsession fueling his power but threatening to consume her. Maya's held steady, but even her strength was faltering under the weight of the Core's hunger.

He couldn't lose them. Not one. Not all. But the Reclaimer's cannon was charging, its red light intensifying, and the Architect's ultimatum echoed in his mind. The Core demanded a choice, a sacrifice to unlock its full potential. To become the storm, he had to let go of his humanity—and one of the women he loved.

---

The Reclaimer fired, its Sync Extractor Cannon unleashing a beam of crimson energy that tore through the tunnel like a tidal wave. The air screamed, the walls buckling as the blast surged toward Charles and the women. Charles roared, his Red Core flaring to life, a shield of crimson light erupting from his body to meet the beam head-on. The collision shook the hub, sending cracks racing up the walls and ceiling, debris raining down in a storm of dust and fire.

Lia clung to him, her screams drowned out by the chaos. Maya shielded Alina, her hands glowing with the last of her Sync energy, but the bond map in Charles's mind was a nightmare—Alina's thread was a faint flicker, Lia's a blazing inferno, and Maya's a trembling thread on the verge of snapping. The Core pulsed, its hunger overwhelming, urging him to choose, to sacrifice one to save the others.

Above, Arkvale's skyline pulsed with crimson light, the city trembling as the Red Core's power bled into the streets. Drones swarmed, their anti-Sync beams converging on the hub, amplifying the Reclaimer's assault. The Architect's laughter echoed through the tunnel, a relentless drumbeat that drowned out Charles's thoughts.

"Choose!" the Architect demanded, its voice a thunderclap. "One must die, or all will burn!"

Charles's vision blurred, his body trembling as the Core's power surged through him. He could feel it—the edge of godhood, the promise of a world at his feet, every heart beating for him alone. All it would take was one sacrifice, one bond broken to fuel his ascent.

He looked at Alina, her face pale and lifeless, her thread a dying ember. At Lia, her eyes wide with terror and love, her bond burning too brightly to survive. At Maya, her prayers a faint whisper against the storm, her strength the only thing holding them together.

"I won't choose!" he roared, his voice shaking the tunnel. But the Core didn't care. It surged, a tidal wave of power that threatened to consume him entirely, to make the choice for him.

The Reclaimer's beam intensified, its crimson light clashing with Charles's shield, the two forces locked in a cataclysmic struggle. The tunnel began to collapse, steel beams snapping like twigs, the ground splitting beneath their feet. The drones above fired, their beams converging on Charles, burning his skin as the anti-Sync tech tore at his Core.

Omega's laughter echoed from the shadows, his form coalescing once more. "You can't stop it, brother. The Core will take what it wants."

Charles's scream was a primal defiance, his aura flaring brighter than ever as he pushed back against the Reclaimer's beam. But the bond map flickered, one thread dimming dangerously close to extinction. Was it Alina's? Lia's? Maya's?

The Architect's voice was a final, chilling whisper. "Let go, Charles. Or lose them all."

The tunnel erupted in a blinding explosion of crimson and white, the Reclaimer's beam and Charles's shield colliding in a shockwave that shattered the hub. The city above trembled, its skyline fracturing as the Red Core's power surged out of control. The drones spiraled, their beams faltering as the hub collapsed, burying the Ghost Root's node in rubble.

In the chaos, Charles stood at the center, his body glowing with the full might of the Red Core, his eyes locked on the women he loved. One thread flickered, on the verge of breaking, and with it, his humanity hung by a thread.

Would he unleash the Core, sacrificing one to save the others? Or would he fight to hold on, risking everything in a final stand against the Architect's will?

The world held its breath, waiting for Charles to choose—or for the Core to choose for him.