Outside of the Layered Vitality that is rearranged inside someone's Tree of Life, a living being also possessed an initial form of vitality that is directly produced from their own very soul, like their own respective bee's colony and their honey production.
And the byproduct of this innate vitality is called Soul Essence.
This energy is a potent substance that exists within the soul. It represents the essence of their being, containing elements of their deepest desires, aspirations. It is also why a separate newborn soul can be brought into existence.
And thanks to how reproduction works, the innate vitality will form a separate reservoir of Soul Essence in the physical body equivalent of a reproduction catalyst.
For flowers, these are the ovule, pollens, and seeds. And for the beast, they are the sperms and the ovums, and to a great extent, the eggs. The Soul Essence is also highly present in the brain when someone is dreaming too.
But the amount of Soul Essence produced from a living being is highly correlated with the structure of the soul.
And it also just happens that a complexly emotional and intellectual sapient being always possessed much more innate vitality than that of beasts and plants. This affects the amount of Soul Essence by a large margin.
If quantified, the difference can be like a night and day. A human sperm in average possessed a thousand if not million times the amount of Soul Essence than that of seed or pollen.
Why does the amount of Soul Essence matter?
"I hope I'm prepared mentally…"
Demons of Debauchery feed upon this nectar of life to maintain their uniquely structured soul, which not even a conversion of ohr could replace their needs unless they had achieved a higher level of existence in the Floors of Emanations.
And they need a lot of it, hence why Succubus hunts young men and Incubus with the young women where their production of Soul Essence are at their peak.
Additionally, absorbing Soul Essence in general can accelerate the demon's own spiritual growth and biological evolution, separate from their ascension of existence through the Emanation. This growth and evolution can appear visible for some.
'Master is sitting in the camp, carving something while playfully humming,' Azel observed, trying to find the golden opportunity to attack. 'I wonder if I can make Sir Zerath leave temporarily somehow.'
But even then, not all sapient beings are born equal.
It was technically unknown how this came to be, but some individual souls might also possess an abnormal type or Soul Essence amount. This can either lean to both sides of the spectrum where it can be negative or positive.
However, there are individuals who possess exceptionally pure or powerful Soul Essence. In the world of Soul Essence harvesting, these individuals are known as 'Ascendant'.
Ascendant souls are sought after by many essence-consuming beings and Demons of Debauchery for their unparalleled potency and transformative properties. Extracting the Soul Essence of an Ascendant not only sustains the demonic souls but also enhances their own abilities and overall vitality to an extraordinary degree.
Unfortunately, Ascendant souls are exceedingly rare, making them highly coveted by demons in general and other supernatural beings.
'Uuu, even then, I still can't believe that it's my own Master out of all people who becomes my first finding of ascendancy…'
It took quite a while for Azel to realize it since she barely cared about the quality of the soul as long as her prey were susceptible to a dream, but after a thorough spiritual appraisal on her own Master, it was clear that Yroa is one of those extremely rare Ascendant.
The hints were all over the place, from the speed of productivity to the overall behavior that is exceedingly brimming with vitality.
Yroa was probably one of the higher levels of natural Ascendant that might only come once in a decade, which means that meeting with one alone is an extreme opportunity in itself, let alone spiritually bonding with one and becoming his familiar.
"You seem to be a little nervous right now, Azel," Yroa said as he multitasks many activities at once, from experimenting with herb concoction, to creating a literal smelter near the bonfire. "There is a saying that bottled emotion weighs far denser than bottled water."
"... Where does that proverb come from?"
"I made that up."
"It's a made up proverb!"
"But it makes you a little less nervous now, right?"
It might be something that Azel didn't notice as much after she was exposed to the crazy side of her new master, but despite having that adorable and beautiful appearance, the genuine expression on Yroa's face was actually what made him entrancingly captivating than anything.
"Oh my, did I make you a little bit flustered now~?" Yroa fixed his hair. It was something that just happened a lot recently, since his hair got longer from the moment they first met. "Say, is there something in my face that makes you look that passionately?"
'UUUUH! Why does this devilish spawn look more adorable and prettier than any person I met before!?' Azel could be seen cringing hard from her own emotion, that it masked her blush with that of self-frustration. 'Just what is this conflicting emotion that I'm having!?'
Before the train of reaction continued, Zerath slowly got up from his seat, casting a faraway glance at something in the surrounding area.
"I notice that there is something I need to take care of first," Zerath said. There were no changes in tone and emotion from his casual manner of speech, which didn't give much hints on what he was actually going to do. "I'll be back shortly."
"Be back before dinner, okay?" Yroa nonchalantly replied.
"I'll try my best." Zerath then smiled.
And just like that, Yroa was left alone together with his demonic familiar, the very same scenario that had been wished by Azel from the start.
'This is my chance,' Azel told herself, swallowing her saliva and preparing her mental carousel. 'It is now or never, Azel!'
Azel had been a male in most of her entire conscious life, but she had enough mental capacity that prevented her sudden change to be detrimental in her demonic life.
After all, what's the difference between having a sword and another mouth in the very same place, when in the end, the act of extraction should vividly go the same as in every debauched dream she inflicted on all of her prey?
Without any warning, Azel grabbed both of Yroa's hands and pushed him back to the ground. Her gray-skinned forearms glistened from the young reflection of one of the many moons that Yassimhre had, and her sizable ram-horns shaped the contour of her determination to go for this length.
"Oh my~?" Yroa looked like he was taken aback, but that ravishing smugness of his made it hard to confirm if he had expected this scenario or was he being perplexed. "Is this a breach of contract or is it your attempt to amuse me in your own way, my little Azel~?"
In that eyes-to-eyes moment, Azel showed a gaze of determination, for she no longer wants to feel as miserable and confused. Right now, she wants nothing but to purposely claim her own master like how her master claimed her, but through the act that befitting her nature as a 'demon', not in debauchery, but in passion and selfish loyalty.
"Is there a reason why you aren't fighting back, Master?" Slowly but gradually, a smirk of confidence began to show on Azel's face. "You act tough and merciless, but in truth, ever since I changed, you're waiting for your little familiar to swallow you this whole time, am I right?"
"Oya? And what makes you think so~?"
"You put a condition in the contract to not invade your dream, but you didn't say anything about putting a clause that prevents me from taking the same course of action physically." The smirk slowly transformed into a lustful grin. Her half-lidded gaze was fiercely stimulated too. "In the end, you're just a bratty Master who wants to be put in his place, aren't you?"
"Is that so?" Yroa narrowed one of his eyes, challenging his own intoxicated familiar even further. "Then how about you teach me exactly that, then~?"
Suddenly, Azel crashed her lips onto Yroa's mouth, before powerfully plunging her tongue inside and ravaged her own master with a demonic grace.
"Mmm!"
"Mmm~?"
Despite the tongue-in-cheek attitude, their connected mouths display a warm and passionate dance.
Even then, Azel kept on forcefully pushing Yroa's forearms to the ground, while equally slamming her entwined tongue in a sultry rhythm. She pushed her knee to his crotch, their bodies melding together as they exchanged each other saliva with insatiable hunger. Breaths mingled, hearts raced, and the world outside disappeared. Each touch, taste, and sigh ignited an even brighter fire inside them.
Then, Azel retracted her head as her displayed tongue dragged an interconnected liquid string between their tongues. She pulled out to see what kind of expression that her Master made.
And it turned out to be his usual cheeky attitude once again. With a flirtatious gaze, Yroa licked his lips to catch all of the juice that was disheveled.
Aroused, Azel slammed in for another french-kiss to enact another round. This time, she went more fierceful, more powerful, like that of a hungry beast. She also began maneuvering her thick thighs to invade Yroa's inner legs, pressing her entire crotch down to make it look like she was the one fucking him, and not the other way around.
Subsequently, her build-up lust for her own master made her hump and hold his forearms tighter.
Meanwhile, Yroa himself hadn't shown any sign of resistance. Because to him, Azel's behavior was nothing but adorable in comparison to what he had already experienced back in Hell.
Not to mention, who wouldn't want to see their pet feeling happy and confident again?
"You truly haven't shown any kind of resistance, Master." Azel smiled as she sighed and puffed, with their viscously brewed saliva pulled out once again. "Do you like it, Master? Of course you do! Your gnarly things down here have been screaming for release for a while~!"
Yroa, who possessed enough cardio to run miles back to back, was surprisingly seen to be trying to regain his breath control. Maybe because it was his first time in this Living Vessel to be exposed to this kind of activity, that it felt much more stimulating than usual.
Regardless, his expression was nearly still the same after being ravaged in the mouth for more than ten minutes.
'Haha, at first I felt worried that this thing will eventually happen after I added the clause that made her unable to invade my dream at will,' Yroa thought to himself. 'But now that I know that she is originally a female, I feel at much ease!'
He just doesn't like the thought of doing this kind of thing with a man, it's just his thing.
"You have been really quiet for a while, Master~" Azel cooed as she slipped down, simultaneously sliding her hands from Yroa's chest, waist, hips, and then pants. "Let's unleash that giant beast you're so proud of, shall we~?"
The instrument of ascendancy, the very thing that might be able to further evolve Azel into a greater Demon of Lust, and possibly cementing herself as a true succubus-like entity instead of a Dream Devourer.
The thought of it alone makes her drool in anticipation, regardless of her first opinion about devouring dick when she was still a male Dream Devourer.
And as the thick fabric of the apprentice pants was pulled out, Yroa's well-hidden erect weapon was revealed.
"... Was it always this big?" Azel nervously said, completely breaking her dominant rhythm from going.
"Who is it again that said she wants to swallow me whole?" Yroa snickered.