Lust Sync: Every Woman Wants Me Now-Chapter 48: The Ashden Core Chamber

The blade sank deep.

Charles gasped as cold fire tore through his spine, nerve endings shrieking in a chaos of pain and confusion. Blood poured from the wound, staining his black shirt and dripping onto the metallic floor of the Ashden Core chamber. The crimson droplets formed perfect circles on the mirror-polished surface, each one reflecting the pulsing lights above like dying stars.

Behind him, Lila stood trembling, the nano-dagger still in her hand, her eyes swimming with tears that caught the blue glow of the Core’s interface. Her breathing was erratic, hyperventilating, as if she couldn’t quite believe what she’d done.

"I didn’t want this," she whispered. "But you left me no choice."

Charles collapsed to one knee, his hand gripping the slick floor to stay upright. The neural pathways in his spine screamed warnings through his consciousness—damage assessments, repair protocols, emergency reroutes. His enhanced physiology was already beginning to compensate, but the pain was exquisite, designed specifically to override his body’s natural defenses.

"You... you were never supposed to be this strong," she continued, her voice breaking. "They said you’d fall apart by now. That your sync would break under the pressure of too many hearts. That loving all of us would destroy you from the inside."

The admission hung in the air like a toxin. Charles felt something deeper than physical pain—the realization that his breakdown had been orchestrated, anticipated, planned for.

Olivia screamed, scrambling toward him—but the Core system pulsed with a magnetic field, holding her back behind an invisible wall of energy that crackled with each impact of her fists.

"Let him go!" she yelled, her voice raw with desperation.

The Charles on the monitor—his darker reflection, the Core Self—watched in silence. His smile didn’t fade. It deepened, as if this moment was exactly what he’d been waiting for.

> "Let her watch. This is the pain that will free him."

The Core Self’s voice carried harmonics that shouldn’t exist in digital format, as if something had infected the system itself with organic malevolence.

Lila’s hands shook harder, the dagger slipping from her fingers with a wet clang as it hit the floor. The sound echoed through the chamber, a death knell that seemed to reverberate through Charles’s bones.

"I just wanted you to see me," she said, her voice barely audible over the humming of the Core’s processors. "Before I disappear."

Charles tried to rise, his muscles spasming, pain sharpening every breath. The nanites in his bloodstream were fighting the damage, but something in the blade’s composition was interfering with their function.

> [Warning: Neural Sync Integrity – 47%] [Emergency Healing Mode Engaged – Slowed Due to System Interference] [Foreign Nanite Signature Detected: Ashden Military Grade] [Estimated Recovery Time: 14 Hours Without Intervention]

The Core Self turned toward Lila, nodding approvingly. "You’ve done well. Loyalty in suffering—that’s rare."

"I didn’t do it for you," she snapped, wiping tears from her cheeks with the back of her hand. "I did it because he made me feel like I mattered. Then he tossed me aside like I was nothing."

"You never were nothing," Charles grunted, each word a struggle against the fire in his spine. "I kept you out of the fire because I cared."

"Liar," she hissed, but her voice lacked conviction.

"You were the only one I never corrupted," he said through clenched teeth, blood speckling his lips. "That was my gift to you. Freedom."

Her eyes filled with horror as the truth hit her. All the others—Maya, Jade, Lira—they’d been changed by their connection to him. Their personalities subtly altered, their desires reshaped to complement his needs. But Lila... Lila had remained herself.

"I didn’t want freedom, Charles," she whispered. "I wanted to belong."

And then she ran.

Just turned and bolted down the corridor—away from the lights, from the blood, from everything. Her footsteps echoed in the distance, growing fainter until they disappeared entirely.

Charles slumped forward again, face pale, breath coming shallow and ragged. The pool of blood beneath him had grown larger, more concerning. His enhanced healing was failing.

"Charles!" Olivia screamed again, pounding her fists against the forcefield. "Don’t give up!"

He tried to reach her, fingertips dragging along the ground, every inch a war against his body’s shutdown protocols. He touched the edge of the energy wall. A shock tore through him, but he didn’t stop. The electrical feedback sent new waves of agony through his nervous system, but he pressed harder against the barrier.

The Core Self tilted its head, studying him with clinical interest.

"You would crawl to her in this state?" it asked. "Pathetic."

Charles coughed blood, the metallic taste coating his tongue. "You... don’t get it, do you?"

"I get everything. I am you."

"No," Charles said, lifting his head with tremendous effort. "You’re what I was programmed to be. Not what I chose."

The distinction seemed to enrage the Core Self. Its perfect features twisted with something approaching emotion.

"Choice is an illusion. You were designed to love. Designed to need. Designed to break."

"Maybe," Charles admitted. "But I chose who to love. And how to love them."

Suddenly, a second pulse hit the chamber.

The lights flickered.

Then dimmed.

Then burned crimson.

> [Ghost Signal Detected – Null Spike Inbound] [Foreign Sync Signature Entered the Core] [Warning: Unauthorized Access to Primary Systems] [Intrusion Vector: Unknown]

A new presence emerged from the shadows of the corridor.

Stilettos echoed on steel—a rhythmic, predatory sound that seemed to sync with Charles’s failing heartbeat.

A silhouette stepped forward, hips swaying like a predator, long crimson coat billowing behind her. Her figure was backlit by the emergency lighting, creating an almost supernatural aura.

Alina.

Her eyes glowed faintly red. Not system glow. Something older. Wilder. More dangerous.

"I got your message, Olivia," she said, voice sharp as silk. "Sorry I’m late."

Olivia blinked through her tears. "You—how did you even find us?"

"I never lost track of him," Alina said coolly, her gaze fixed on Charles’s prone form. "I’m synced to him in more ways than one."

Charles struggled to turn his head toward her. "You’re not safe here—"

She held up a small, black orb.

It pulsed in her hand like a heartbeat, but wrong somehow—arhythmic, chaotic, as if it contained something that shouldn’t exist.

"This is the Ghost Root," she said. "And I just fed it the Core’s signature."

The Core Self’s smile finally faltered. For the first time, something resembling fear flickered across its perfect features.

"What did you do?"

Alina licked her lips, the gesture somehow predatory. "Planted a virus. You see, love can sync deeper than control ever will."

The chamber vibrated.

Sparks shot from the panels.

The forcefield collapsed with a sound like breaking glass.

Olivia rushed to Charles, catching him before he hit the ground completely. Her hands came away bloody, but she didn’t care.

"Hey," she whispered, cradling his face. "I’ve got you."

His eyes fluttered, struggling to focus on her.

> [Emergency Stabilization Engaged – Sync Partners: Alina, Olivia] [Combined Link Channel Activated – Healing Speed Tripled] [Warning: Sync Burn Risk High] [Emotional Resonance Exceeding Safe Parameters]

He exhaled slowly, pain starting to recede like a bad dream. The combined emotional connection was literally healing him, their love becoming a physical force that accelerated his recovery.

The Core Self snarled, its form beginning to flicker and distort.

"You think this changes anything? I am inevitable. I am every dark thought you’ve ever had, every selfish impulse, every moment of weakness."

"No," Charles said, standing now with Olivia’s help, his strength returning with each second. "You’re a ghost. And it’s time I buried you."

Alina tossed the Ghost Root into the air.

Charles caught it, the orb burning cold in his palm.

The system interface bloomed before his eyes, options shifting wildly. Threat levels, sync paths, neural overrides. But now he could see deeper—into the Core’s true architecture, its hidden vulnerabilities, the fractures in its seemingly perfect design.

He selected one.

> [Command Selected: Emotional Burn – Destroy Core Link] [Warning: This Action Cannot Be Undone] [Warning: Collateral Damage to Sync Network Possible] [Confirmation Required]

A countdown began.

> 10... 9... 8...

The Core Self lunged from the screen—his body becoming data, turning physical for one last attempt. His fingers elongated into claws, his perfect features warping into something monstrous.

But Charles didn’t back away.

He stepped forward.

And shoved the orb into his own chest.

Light exploded from his core, brighter than the sun, washing the chamber in pure white radiance.

Pain—then clarity.

Every connection, every sync, every artificial bond the Core had created suddenly became visible to him. He could see the network of control, the subtle manipulations, the way his emotions had been weaponized against him.

> 3... 2... 1...

The Core Self screamed—a sound that existed in both digital and physical space, a death cry that shattered monitors and cracked the walls.

And then—

Silence.

The screens went black.

The chamber dimmed.

And Charles collapsed.

---

Later

He awoke in a small room—safe. Lit only by warm orange lamps that cast gentle shadows on unfamiliar walls. His wounds were mostly healed, though he could feel the phantom pain of neural pathways still rewiring themselves. Beside him, Olivia slept, curled up in his arms, breathing softly. Her face was peaceful, unmarked by the terror of the chamber.

Alina stood near the window, a cigarette dangling from her fingers, smoke curling lazily in the amber light.

"You killed the Core," she said without looking at him.

He nodded, voice rough from disuse. "How long was I out?"

"Three hours. You’re lucky your body didn’t fry from the sync overload."

He reached out and gently brushed Olivia’s hair back from her face. "Is she okay?"

"She didn’t leave your side."

Charles swallowed, tasting the lingering metallic residue of blood. "Where’s Maya? Lira? Jade?"

Alina turned toward him, and he saw something in her expression that made his stomach drop.

"That’s the thing."

She pulled out a tablet and tapped the screen.

It showed surveillance footage—Lira bleeding in a hallway, convulsing as her sync thread sparked and frayed. Jade unconscious in an elevator, her body twitching with electrical discharges. Maya screaming as her sync thread frayed into sparks, her eyes rolled back, showing only white.

All of them... breaking down.

"No..." Charles whispered.

Alina stepped closer, her expression unreadable.

"You killed the Core, Charles," she said. "But he planted one final failsafe. A shard. Inside each of the girls you loved most."

He looked up at her, stricken. "You mean—"

"The Core’s death triggered a cascade failure," she continued, her voice clinical. "Three sync shards, each one containing a fragment of the Core’s consciousness. Each one bonded to a different girl’s neural patterns."

She showed him more footage—medical readouts, brain scans, vital signs fluctuating wildly.

"Maya’s shard is coded to her protective instincts. It’s turning her into a weapon."

The screen switched to Jade, her body surrounded by crackling energy.

"Jade’s shard is feeding off her emotional vulnerability. It’s making her into a living conduit for the Core’s rage."

Finally, Lira appeared on screen, her eyes completely white, speaking in a voice that wasn’t her own.

"And Lira’s shard is connected to her intelligence. It’s using her mind to rebuild the Core’s network."

Charles felt sick. "How long do they have?"

"Hours. Maybe less." Alina’s expression was grim. "The shards are unstable. They’re burning through their hosts’ neural pathways. Eventually, they’ll consume everything that makes the girls themselves."

"There has to be a way to save them."

"There is," Alina said quietly. "But you’re not going to like it."

She pulled up a new interface—a complex diagram showing the sync network, the three shards, and their connection points.

"The shards are linked. They share a common core protocol. If you can overload one, you can destroy all three."

Charles studied the diagram, his enhanced mind processing the implications. "But?"

"But the overload has to come from within. Someone has to sync with the shard directly, then trigger a cascade failure from the inside."

"That would kill whoever does it."

"Yes."

"Then I’ll—"

"No." Alina’s voice was sharp. "You can’t. Your neural patterns are too similar to the Core’s. You’d just get absorbed. It has to be someone else."

Charles felt a chill that had nothing to do with the room’s temperature. "Someone else?"

Alina’s expression was unreadable. "The system will only accept a sync from someone with a deep emotional connection to all three girls. Someone who loves them enough to sacrifice everything."

The implications hit him like a physical blow. "You."

"Me."

"I won’t let you."

"It’s not your choice." Alina’s voice was steady, but he could see the fear in her eyes. "I’ve already started the preliminary sync. I’ve got maybe six hours before the process is irreversible."

"There has to be another way."

"There isn’t." She moved to the window, looking out at the city lights. "Unless..."

"Unless what?"

She turned back to him, and for the first time, he saw something like hope in her expression.

"Unless we can find the original Core seed. The master template that created all the shards."

"Where would that be?"

"That’s the question, isn’t it?" Alina’s smile was sharp as a blade. "Because if the Core had a backup plan, it would have hidden the seed somewhere we’d never think to look."

She showed him one final screen—a map of the city, with three red dots marking the girls’ locations. But there was a fourth dot, pulsing faintly in the distance.

"I found this in the surveillance data. A signal spike that appeared the moment the Core died. It’s weak, but it’s there."

Charles stared at the fourth dot, dread building in his stomach.

"Where is it?"

"The old Ashden facility. The one that was supposedly destroyed five years ago."

"That’s impossible. I saw the explosion myself."

"Did you? Or did you see what someone wanted you to see?"

The question hung in the air like a challenge. Charles felt the familiar sensation of his reality shifting, of discovering that nothing was as it seemed.

"There’s something else," Alina said quietly. "The signal signature matches yours. Exactly."

"That doesn’t make sense."

"It would if the Core wasn’t just a copy of you." Her voice was barely above a whisper. "It would make sense if you were a copy of it."

Charles felt the world tilt. "What are you saying?"

"I’m saying that everything you think you know about your past, about who you are, might be a lie."

She handed him a data pad with a single file on it.

"This is the original Ashden Project documentation. The real files, not the sanitized version they gave you."

Charles opened the file with trembling hands. The first line made his blood run cold:

**PROJECT DESIGNATION: CORE GENESIS**

**OBJECTIVE: Create perfect synthetic human capable of emotional manipulation**

**TEMPLATE SOURCE: Unknown Subject - Designation "Patient Zero"**

**NOTES: Subject Charles appears to be responding well to implanted memories. Emotional capacity exceeding all projections.**

"How long have you known?" he asked.

"Since the beginning," Alina admitted. "I was part of the original project team. I was supposed to monitor you, report back on your development."

"But you didn’t."

"No. I fell in love with you instead." Her laugh was bitter. "Ironic, isn’t it? The monitor falling for the monitored."

Charles felt everything he thought he knew about himself crumbling. "So what am I? What are we?"

"You’re the copy. The girls are real. And somewhere out there, in a facility that doesn’t exist, the original you is waiting."

"Why would they do this?"

"Because the original was too dangerous. Too unstable. They needed to create a version that could love without destroying."

Charles looked at the map again, at the fourth dot pulsing in the distance.

"And now?"

"Now we have a choice," Alina said. "We can try to save the girls by sacrificing one of us. Or we can go to the source, face the original, and try to end this once and for all."

"What happens if we choose wrong?"

"If we choose wrong, the Core wins. The shards complete their integration. The girls become weapons. And the original uses them to rebuild the sync network on a global scale."

"And if we choose right?"

"If we choose right, we might save everyone. Or we might discover that we’re all just puppets in a game we never understood."

Charles felt Olivia stirring beside him, her eyes fluttering open. For a moment, she looked at him with perfect trust, perfect love.

Then she saw the expression on his face.

"Charles? What’s wrong?"

"Everything," he said quietly. "Everything is wrong."

And in the distance, the fourth dot pulsed stronger, as if responding to his words.

As if it knew they were coming.