[Spirit of Lust] Chapter 214: The largest step. (Patreon)

The doll was not only wearing sneakers, dark blue jeans and a white tank top, but also black socks and a black bra. It was very likely that it was wearing matching panties, too, if they went through the trouble of putting on underwear on it.

“Um… What are you doing?” Will asked them.

“Helping Ishtar,” Reina said, grinning proudly. “You’re using a sex doll to practice your new skill because it looks human, right? It’s supposed to help make the connection easier, you said.”

“It should in theory, yes,” Aoi said. “A big part of magic is conceptualization and understanding. If you can make concepts make sense for yourself, then some spells become easier to perform.”

“Ishtar hasn’t been making progress, so we thought she might need another push,” Ruth said and gestured to show off the sex doll from head to toe. “And what’s more human than wearing clothes? Having it sitting there naked, you can’t help but think ‘that’s just a doll’, right? We thought maybe some clothes would help!”

“We tried to make her look cute, but I was worried we might end up ripping some of my clothes with how hard it was to put it on her, so this is what we went with,” Reina said. “Still, all my clothes are nice, so I’d say she looks pretty good, doesn’t she?”

Cynthia chuckled. “I don’t think she pulls it off better than you would, but yeah, I’d say she looks more like a person now.”

“I still don’t like it. It’s even more uncanny now,” Amelia said, frowning and crossing her arms. “Makes me think it’ll really move.”

“That’s kind of the point, isn’t it?” Ruth said.

But then the sex doll’s leg moved forward on its own, knee bending stiffly and unnaturally and startling everyone in the room.

“AAAAH!”

“OH MY GOD!”

Reina and Ruth screamed and let go of the doll, stepping away with their hearts in their throats. The doll fell forward and to the side, landing awkwardly.

“FUCK! It really moved!” Amelia gasped and stepped back in shock.

Meanwhile, Cynthia burst out laughing at everyone’s panic while Aoi looked down at the doll with eyebrows high up.

“Oh wow. Did that really do it?” Aoi asked.

‘Finally… Finally it moves! Will, hold me, I think I’m gonna cry from joy.’

‘...Do you want me to hug the doll?’

‘It’s just a figure of speech, you dolt.’

The doll moved again, this time moving its arms and trying to put its hands on the floor to prop itself up, but its movements were, again, too slow, stiff and awkward to get the job done.

“Alright, I’m sorry, I need to turn away. I’m gonna have nightmares…” Amelia said, turning away from the moving doll.

“How can you look away? This is amazing!” Cynthia said, grinning ear to ear. “Weird, yes, but oddly interesting. An inanimate object is moving! How is that not amazing?”

Aoi chuckled. “I have to agree. I had an uncle who would use magic to do little tricks or light shows for us. Helped us see magic as more than a tool for combat.”

“We expected it to help a bit, not outright solve the issue…” Reina said, swallowing and she watched the doll move on the floor. “How does it feel, Ishtar?”

‘Sorry. Busy. I don’t want to lose this feeling.’

“She’s focusing,” Will answered for her. “I don’t think she’s got it quite yet, but it’s the best she’s achieved so far.”

“Looks uncomfortable…” Ruth said.

For a moment, Will felt lightheaded. His vision blurred for a short second and the world seemed like it would spin around him any second. He felt aether flow through his body, hot, active and surprisingly… clumsy, lacking Ishtar’s familiar fine-tuned control.

He took a deep breath and turned to Cynthia. “I’m… sorry to ask, but can you make dinner tonight? I’m going to help Ishtar.”

“Oh. Yeah, sure. Just don’t overexert yourselves, okay?”

Will nodded and went to pick up the doll from the floor. As he did, so too did Ishtar stop trying to move it. Will carried it to the living room and sat it on his lap as he sat on the sofa.

He looked back at the girls with a sheepish smile. “Sorry, but I’ll need to actively touch it this time. I think I know how I can help.”

“Alright, fine,” Reina said, sighing. “We DID do this to help Ishtar.” She smiled. “Glad it’s working so well.”

The girls left Will to his business, with Ruth going to the kitchen with Cynthia to help her with dinner. Thankful, he focused back on his own body and the flow of aether, taking deep breath after deep breath.

‘Is moving your consciousness messing up your control of aether?’

‘Yeah. I thought I was good at multitasking, but this is something else entirely.’

‘Then leave the control to me for now. Focus solely on the doll.’

‘Heh. To think now you’re the one helping me with aether control during a spell. Used to be the other way around when we started working together.’

‘Time to pay what I owe.’

With no more words, Will and Ishtar got back to practice. The lightheadedness and dizziness faded away as Will got his aether back under proper control. It was a steady flow, warm and consistent. Ishtar went completely quiet to the point Will almost didn’t feel her there. He supposed that was part of what it meant to ‘move her consciousness’.

On top of helping with aether control, Will began to touch the doll. He moved one hand between its legs and caressed its inner thigh. The doll’s full body twitched, and Will could understand why Amelia was creeped out. Still, Will smiled and continued.

He moved his other hand under the doll’s tank top and began to cup its breasts, needing to make very conscious efforts not to think of how fake they felt. His and Ishtar’s minds were linked, and thinking of this as ‘fake’ could disturb Ishtar’s focus on the spell. Instead, Will touched the doll as if he was trying to please a real woman, sneaking his fingers under the bra and teasing its nipples.

It seemed to be working. The fondling and caresses served as a sort of beacon for Ishtar to draw her consciousness to the doll, and that Will was focusing on it as a real woman further strengthened the conceptual connection to it.

Ishtar moved the doll subtly. Fingers, toes, clenching and opening fists, blinking. Basic yet incredibly difficult motions that at times disturbed their flow of aether but that Will kept under control.

It was the largest, most important step they had taken, but it was still just a step. They would need to continue practicing, but with this as a base, now they had something concrete TO practice.

When the time came for Ishtar to try on a far more realistic fake body, she’d be ready.