Ashen did not take long to discover the reason for his sister's impromptu visit. Not like her crying about animals in her head had not already made the situation clear to the trio.
From that alone, he knew that nothing was wrong with her, since he was the real culprit behind her joining his little 'animal' kingdom. Still, he decided to give her a checkup anyway. It never hurt to see whether she was as healthy as she looked on the outside.
There was only one tiny problem, however…
"So it's official! Well, everything was already obvious, but this is the unmistakable, irrefutable proof!"
'This brat won't keep her mouth shut.' Ashen's eyes twitched as he ran Somatic Autonomy on the girl sitting between his legs.
"Proof for what, Lapi?" Seraphine, who had easily forfeited her place, looked at her newest friend in curiosity.
"Proof that my brother is a certified womanizer, duh!"
Ashen could not stop himself from letting out another sigh. If his sister dared tease even their parents while they were mid-humping in their room, why did he think he would ever escape her clutches?
It had been a fool's errand from the start.
Lapis spread her fingers and began folding them as she counted. "Big sis Alice, our airheaded Sera, and that vixen Lucy... Big bro, way to go! Three gorgeous beauties any man would be more than satisfied with for the rest of his life if he got even one half as gorgeous, but you got three."
"Three, I tell you!" She waved three fingers around as though trying to drive the point straight through the air.
"Ah, shut it, you brat."
As if shutting her up was that easy.
"Big sis, why did you let this happen anyway? I thought my bro was firmly under your clutches!" Lapis looked to her right at the book-reading beauty.
"I can't do anything about it, dear. Your brother went ahead and seduced my best friend when I wasn't looking. And I love him too much to give up just like that, so here we are."
"Oh my god… bro, you're such a scumbag." Lapis shook her head in exasperation.
"And now he even dares to bring her to my sofa and molest her right under my eyes." Alice didn't let up, as if she had finally found a place to pour her heart out. "Look at the sofa, dear. It's practically soaked with her fluids now."
Lapis' eyes widened. "This… this is too shameless!"
"Hey! You are worse than I." Seraphine glared at Alice from the other side. "I still remember that night when I had to cast Clean on the bed every ten minutes because of you and Ash. Tsk."
"Huh. I was just enjoying my boyfriend. What's wrong with that?" Alice smirked, not the least bothered by being called out.
"Well, I'm also enjoying my boyfriend~ Nothing wrong with that." Seraphine stuck out her tongue, making the latter roll her eyes.
"By the way, Sera," Lapis now looked to her left, barely holding the gossipy smile from her lips, "my big sis is just hopelessly in love with my scumbag of a brother, so I kind of understand that she'd rather share than break up with him. But what about you?"
She raised her eyebrows. "If I remember right, aren't you some kind of Saintess? Such a big shot willingly sharing her man? Bit hard to believe, huh?"
"Unfortunately, I'm also helplessly in love with your brother~" Seraphine put on a powerless face while supporting her head with a palm on her cheek.
"Damn…" Lapis looked back at her brother. "Hey, bro, what the heck are you feeding these chicks?"
"My love." Ashen answered in a deadpan tone before grabbing the troublemaker by the armpits and tossing her onto Seraphine, who caught her in her arms.
"Waa~"
"There we go. Nothing is wrong with you, aside from slight stress symptoms that would vanish with a bit of rest. You are healthy, Lapis."
Lapis grinned. "That's cool. Thanks, bro."
He faintly smiled. "You are welcome." Then he remembered something and added, "Come back tomorrow. I'm going to tweak your body with my skill."
"Oh? Alright." She nodded obediently, but the teasing smile soon faded, replaced by a more genuine one. "Jokes aside, girls, I'm an advocate of free love~ so don't let my teasing influence you in any way."
Smirking, she added, "Anyway, if I hadn't seen that all of you were practically radiating wholesome affection, I'd have been the first to bonk my brother!"
"Thank you, Lapi~" Seraphine tightened her hug around the younger woman, suddenly finding her a lot cuter than before.
Alice merely glanced at her and shook her head, mildly amused. Of course, she knew all about her little adopted sister's teasing nature. She had only played along to indulge her, nothing more.
"By the way," Seraphine suddenly raised her voice, finally remembering why she had come downstairs in the first place, "Ash, the last bit of Conceptual conversion was finished last night. As long as my anchor is ready, I can advance."
While the woman in her arms shot her a clueless look, Ashen perfectly understood what she was talking about. The last of her Lust concepts had been converted to Chastity. Her skills were probably all switched up now.
"Alright, we will do it today then," he nodded thoughtfully.
"After you are done with her, I also want to prepare my anchor." Alice suddenly requested from the side.
"Hmm? Aren't you a bit far from the Third Step? Why the rush?" He looked at her curiously.
"I never know when you might up and disappear, after all," she looked at him reproachfully, "and you know that a Lust pathwalker without a partner has a hard time advancing."
"Alright, alright," he smiled sheepishly. "I've got ya."
As for why both of them were coming to him for help, it was because of the nature of an anchor.
An anchor was, in essence, an emotion born from one of the Seven Sins. It was neither gentle nor stable. It pressed against the mind with overwhelming force, threatening to consume the bearer whole. Yet, it remained survivable.
That was what made it useful. To overcome such an emotion was to survive the worst of that sin without being broken by it, and the memory of that struggle would remain etched into the soul like a mark that refused to fade.
That memory became the foundation for ascension. From the Third Step onward, the influence of Sin changed entirely. It was no longer something one could simply endure and move past. Each ascent became a battle uphill against that same suffocating force, and the memory of having once conquered it served as the new anchor, keeping the soul from collapsing under the strain.
The only problem was that the leap from the Fourth Step to the Third was too vast to bridge naturally, which was why an artificial anchor had to be created.
Fortunately, Ashen had the skills to manufacture the perfect scenario for that. As for Alice, though... in her case, it might not even be necessary. He would only need to push her far enough into lust, right before she finally snapped.