Date: Unspecified

Time: Unspecified

Location: Myriad Realms, Card World, Central Region, Central Academic City, Morningstar University District, Morningstar University Campus, Garden of Beginning

"Huh...?" 𝘧𝑟𝑒𝑒𝘸𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝓁.𝘤𝘰𝓂

A strange wave of desire surged through me—sudden and overwhelming. I found Slay... irresistible. Dark impulses pressed against my mind, thoughts of forcing her down and claiming her flashing through my head before I could stop them. The very fact that such ideas appeared there made my stomach twist in disgust.

Slay’s smile widened as she watched my internal struggle unfold—my reluctant mind and my traitorous body betraying me. She could feel it. She knew. The heat flushing through me, the tension I couldn’t hide, my pant’s crotch area bulged and pulsated... a visible reaction that left no room for denial.

I agree that it had been a long time since I did it—but this level of honest reaction from my body wasn’t normal. This wasn’t me.

No... the problem wasn’t from me.

It was her.

Did she use some kind of aphrodisiac on me?

No, that couldn’t be it.

Lucine was standing right there, untouched by whatever I was feeling. I didn’t feel a thing toward her—not even a flicker of interest. It was as if my entire awareness had narrowed to only Slay. As if the rest of the world—Lucine, the battlefield, everything—had been pushed out of my senses.

There was only Slay. Only her voice. Only her presence. Like there was no room left in me for anything else.

"What’s wrong, my prince?" Slay asked, voice dripping with honeyed mischief. "Do you need... assistance?"

The playful smile vanished—replaced by a slow, predatory grin that showed far too many teeth as sadistically informed, "Then get on your knees and beg me, Your Highness."

Clearly, Slay was holding a grudge for the moment I forced her to kneel before me... I felt guilty about that.

Guilty, Why?

Why in the hell would I feel bad about that?

What the fuck was happening to me?

Had she slipped some kind of love potion on me?

No—impossible. If she had, the Hive Spirit would have detected the influence immediately. The Hive Spirit hadn’t raised a single alarm. Which meant that whatever was affecting me wasn’t an aphrodisiac or a charm-type potion.

That left only two possibilities: unique curses or runes. But curses wouldn’t work on me. My resistance to them was too high. So that meant — it was a rune. A unique one. One specifically designed to bypass reason and directly influence instinct.

’Wyatt. Stop listening to her.’ Lucine’s voice entered my mind, strained but steady. ’If you can, shut off your senses and erase every memory of her, leaving enough to fight her. Don’t hold back. Finish her off as quickly as possible. Because the more you know about her... the more you look at her, hear her, smell her, feel her, taste her, think of her... the stronger her hold on you becomes. Even your own strength will betray you for her.’

She had understood the effects of the Commandment of Negative Passion, Covetous Devil ’Slay Saleos’ without me helping her.

Lucine didn’t hesitate. She immediately used her Celestial Rule Dementia—methodically erasing her memories of Slay. Not all of them—just enough to strip away attachment, familiarity, recognition of form. Leaving only what was necessary to fight her and nothing more. This way, she ensured that Slay’s ability would only be able to influence her a little, even negligible. As long as she keeps erasing her memoirs of Slay periodically she was fine.

’Got it,’ I replied back, impressed by Lucine’s deduction ability. She was spot on.

Slay was the embodiment of Negative Passion itself, capable of invoking desire and passion in anyone, men and women alike. Then, using these desires and passions as twisted chains to manipulate them and everything of them. What Lucine failed to realize was that Slay’s ability grew stronger when the target already held someone else in their heart. The deeper the affection, the quicker the corruption took root.

It wasn’t her fault she overlooked this. Only someone who loved would ever notice the pattern. And Lucine... she seemed long past such things.

But me?

In the midst of this chaos, I came to confirm that I was in love. I just didn’t know with whom. Was it Anna? Susan? Or... both?

The confusion only made Slay’s influence worse. There was something else—some similarity I recognized about her ability. It reminded me of the Carnivorous Womb’s effect on Jill.

Jill’s Carnivorous Womb invoked overwhelming desire and passion in its host, forcing them to mate with a partner chosen by the womb itself. The host had no control.

Slay’s power worked the same way—only reversed. Not only did she get to choose her mate, but she invoked desire and passion in her mate, bending their instincts and reason so they would mate with her willingly. Or mindlessly, to be more accurate.

And just like in the case of the Carnivorous Womb—Slay’s victims had no control.

As I compared Jill and Slay—the abilities of their physique, the way their powers affected desire—I couldn’t ignore the similarity. The thought struck me suddenly, almost absurd at first: Was Jill a failed attempt at creating an Ovumite?

The moment the idea formed, the seriousness of it sank in. It was possible. Disturbingly possible.

After the first Demon Invasion, it was no secret that many Card Apprentices turned to demon and devil merchants, trading morality for power. Some sought forbidden knowledge; others experimented with dark arts beyond the boundaries of reason or ethics.

So, it was possible Demigod Norley, known as the Mad Researcher, was one of them too. I carefully select my words because I have no evidence, but my gut told me that he was one of the worst offenders.

So it wouldn’t be surprising if he had acquired genetic material of an Ovumite by trading with demon/devil merchants and used it in his experiments that grind thousands of innocent souls to fuel his research until Jill—his adopted daughter—the result of that madness and the light that guided him to his current Sani life.

Of course, this was still speculation—but it wouldn’t remain speculation for long. If I compared the soul pathways I had saved from Jill with Slay’s soul pathways, the truth would become obvious almost immediately.

And when I did...

Yes. Jill truly was a failed hybrid between a Card Apprentice and an Ovumite.

Judging from her soul pathways and Ovumite soul pathways, it was a miracle she had survived at all—let alone managed to grow as much as she had.