[Spirit of Lust] Chapter 116: The true prize. (Patreon)

Author's Note: I updated the characters page in chyoa. Added Nanami and Aoi to the list. 

Also, finally decided to put up the picture for what I imagine William looks like. I didn't want to do it because it's out of place with all the real life models and because it's from an established franchise, but I figured someone might want to know and if not you can simply ignore it.

Will started without a set appearance because he was a sort of self insert for the reader back when this was a second person story. After the change to third person, this is what I started to picture.

I apologize if anyone finds it offputting.

Link

***

Will stood still as Ruth examined his face, touched his arms and poked him all over his body. When she saw no weird reaction, she sighed in relief.

“No injuries, then. Good.”

“Didn’t believe me?”

“Needed to make sure.” She smiled at him, put her hands on his cheeks and kissed him. “How was it?”

“A pain in the ass.” He chuckled. “But we got everything we wanted out of it.”

Ruth looked at the older woman sitting on the couch, frowning conflicted.

“Would you believe me if I told you she was under mind control?” Will asked.

“Not the wildest thing you’ve said, nor the weirdest I’ve seen. But she didn’t look brainwashed to me,” Ruth said. “She was acting pretty normal. I mean, esoteric, but not like you’d expect a brainwashed person to act.”

“He keeps most of a person’s personality intact,” Aoi told them. “Raises less suspicions that way. For what is worth, my warning to you to stay inside the apartment was out of genuine worry. I knew I wouldn’t be able to avoid getting people involved, but under his influence… I had to accept it.” She bowed her head deeply. “I apologize for putting you in danger, and thank you from the bottom of my heart for keeping everyone else safe.”

“She’s telling the truth,” Will said. “Ishtar confirmed it several times.”

“Then I’ll just have to trust her.” Ruth nodded. Then her eyes turned to Nanami “And what about her? She’s been quiet all this time and her face is beet red.”

Will felt a little sorry for her, but then again, he wasn’t in much of a better spot. They had a confession to make. “Well, see…”

“You two did it, didn’t you?” Reina asked, busy making lunch in the kitchen.

Ruth raised an eyebrow. “Seriously, Will? Picking up girls in THAT situation?”

“I-It was an emergency!” Nanami blurted out. “See, he was tired from f-fighting my aunt, and he recovers by h-h-having s-s-s-sex, so I… Oh, but he didn’t force himself on me! I was the one who insisted, s-s-so…!”

“Okay, girl. Chill,” Ruth laughed. “We’re not mad. Right, Reina?”

“We knew will was fucking other girls before we even knew he had to do it to feed his tulpa.”

‘Will, what’s a tulpa?’

“We didn’t think for a second that was gonna stop just because we officially started dating,” Reina continued. She then looked at Will. “I’d like you to consults us before going after a new girl, at least, but this being a weird case, I’ll forgive you.”

“At least you told us immediately,” Ruth said.

“I love you,” he answered sheepishly.

Aoi listened to them talk about it so easily and had to ask. “So… It doesn’t bother you?”

“Like we said, we accepted it even before we knew he was possessed by a spirit of sex,” Ruth repeated. “Now it makes more sense and we understand him better. Maybe Ishtar’s powers have something to do with it, but I don’t really feel jealous.”

“Are you sure they’re not…” Aoi asked her niece, who confidently nodded.

“I’ve felt some of his powers up close, and I can say that, while they’ve definitely been touched by it, they’re not under any type of suggestion or enthrallment like you were.”

“Ishtar and I are still in the process of learning what we can and can’t do,” Will said. “She didn’t even know enthrallment was a possibility until Nanami mentioned it. She did get an idea of how to do it from seeing the spell Jack cast on you.”

“Will…” Reina spoke in a soft, yet warning tone.

“We’re not gonna use it!” Will assured. “But now we know how to remove someone else’s mind control.”

“I have to ask, however,” Aoi interjected. “Considering the way you…freed me, would you be able to do this on men?”

Will’s face fell.

‘Welp. There’s our answer.’

‘No way to do it without touching them?’

‘The way we are now? Nope. It’s one thing to increase someone’s arousal or use our reserves of energy for things like increasing your strength, but diving into a person’s soul requires a strong connection between you and the receiver. Since my powers are derived from sex and arousal, we’re doomed from the first if you don’t have at least some sexual interest in the target. And since you sadly seem to be straighter than an arrow…’

Grimacing, Will had to pass on the information.

“So it’s not about whether I’d be willing or not,” he finished. “It’s about feelings and arousal. We won’t be able to make a connection to get to someone’s soul if I’m not interested, and sorry to say, but I’m pretty sure I’m not bi.”

“It sucks, but there’s little you can do about sexual preference,” Reina said.

“Yeah, you can’t force that,” Ruth agreed. “Even forgetting the discussion of being born into it against being something that changes as you live, you can’t change the fact that it’s something that comes from within.”

“It’s certainly an inconvenience,” Aoi lamented. “Freeing the chief of the police department and the boss of the drug cartel would’ve left the bastard in an extremely weakened position. However… There’s one more person under his control. One you should have no problems freeing from mind control.”

Will swallowed hard. Going into that other world, dealing with paranormal creatures, fighting for his life… It was worth it just for this. It was worth it just to learn this skill.

Now he could free Cynthia for good.

‘But seriously Will. What’s a tulpa?’