Arkeidos' competency was beyond question.

John had been running rings around him and cutting off his supply lines everywhere. That was based on a difference in available intel. On the field, the Emperor was a capable general and a schemer adept enough to even use the Gamer’s advantages against him.

As the tyrant himself had stated, he needed to face John directly, because the Gamer would inevitably win in an attrition situation. He had also said, and this was key to John: “You will be crushed here or tomorrow.”

If he was capable of exploiting his strengths, then Arkeidos was certainly capable of exploiting his weaknesses. That he wanted to save everyone, especially those close to him, that was a weak spot the Emperor was all too aware of. He was competent, ruthless, immoral, and had a vested interest in involving John in a decisive confrontation.

What would the Gamer do in that situation?

Abduct someone his enemy cared about and use their death as an ultimatum. John had delivered someone like that on a silver platter, isolated from the rest of the group, able to be held in captivity as an immobile object, and disconnected from the dimension travelling ability whose inner workings Arkeidos did not know.

“If I was Arkeidos, I would never kill Claire until the ultimatum is delivered,” the Gamer finished his explanation. He looked around the table, waiting for anyone to disagree.

“I would,” Scarlett stated leaning back on the Harem Couch. “Because I would know that you know that I want her as a hostage and I also know that you get stronger the more time you have to prepare. Even with the ultimatum not delivered, I’d murder her after a week. Unless you want to speculate on him knowing that you know that he’d do that, so he doesn’t need to do that, because you’d act like he would.”

“Fair point,” the Gamer conceded, “and I will act as if he would do that. Three days, until Escape Rope comes online, that’s how long we’ll delay re-entrance. From the moment he can deliver his ultimatum to us, we’re on his clock.” Eyes focused on his folded hands, the Gamer said to all of them, “This is going to be way more dangerous than it needs to be, only because I want to-”

“Imma stop ya right there, John.” Rave grabbed his chin and forced him to look at her. “Whether you’re right or not, whether she’s dead or not, doesn’t matter. The fucker took something that’s yours – that’s ours. We don’t let people get away with that, not even tyrants on other worlds.”

Gaze jumping from one member of the harem to the next, he saw the sentiment reflected in each of their eyes. “God, I love all of you,” he declared. “Fine, then let’s endanger everything for the one life I truly want to save.”

Rave gave him a quick kiss and then sat back down with a smile. “That’s what I want to hear.”

“And evidently an opportune moment for me to arrive.” The stern voice made everyone turn towards the door. Closing it behind herself, the copper-haired queen of Rex Germaniae stepped towards the couch. Her steel grey eyes looked over the people on the couch. John was all too aware that many of them still looked terrible, covered in dirt and dust. Not even all the elementals had respawned yet, only Gnome and Undine were there. “I read your messages and hurried here. Could you describe to me in detail what exactly happened?”

“Sure, so-“@@novelbin@@

“In the showers,” Lydia demanded. “You walked through figurative hell, my love. I realize your urge to plan is intense, yet you should relax now that you can. The stress will settle back in soon enough.” Seeking guidance, she let her eyes wander through the room. “Unless I misinterpreted the ease at which most of you are sitting and we are about to repay this Arkeidos immediately.”

The certainty with which she said ‘we’ managed to put a smile on John’s face. She was right though. Convinced as he was that he was right about Claire being alive, although probably not well, the initial shock of his defeat still sat in his bones and he reeked. “Alright,” he agreed. He hadn’t been home in 12 days and hadn’t seen Lydia in 21. A bit of nudity and hot water sounded exactly like what he needed.

Of all of them, elementals aside, John was the cleanest and even his face changed colour as all the grime washed off his skin. They rinsed off in the shower before moving to the jacuzzis. They greeted a somewhat confused Siena, who did not expect to respawn in this environment. A rapid mental update got her, like every other elemental before or after her, up to speed.

Settled in the bathtub, John then gave Lydia the complete breakdown of what had transpired. She didn’t interrupt him once, only nodded and voiced her understanding of the situation. “Pragmatically, I must advise you that it is a horrendous decision to risk the liberation of an entire world and your life in exchange for the potential retrieval of a singular woman you have known for less than a fortnight. Inappropriately, I agree fully with Jane’s assessment.” The queen placed a hand on John’s leg. “You would not be the man worthy of us were you not capable of destroying those that aimed to separate us. The singular question of importance is whether or not Arkeidos is a man of honour. All of your plans are of no consequence should he assure the destruction of Claire’s core even if you oblige his demands and achieve victory.”

The Gamer double-checked what he thought about Arkeidos and whether any of it did not hold up anymore. “He sees me as an equal, he will keep his word as long as I keep mine.”

“Then the next question is what you are willing to sacrifice to maximize your chances.” The royal climbed onto his lap. Her wet, open hair stuck to her shoulders and framed her face. One of the strands led almost all the way to her ruby red lips. The light tan of her athletic curves was uniform, her skin smooth, her breasts decently sized and delightful. Relaxed enough, the Gamer got an erection, one that she swiftly claimed for herself. “Mhmmm, what an inappropriate way to prepare.”

“A way to prepare regardless,” John assured her, always enjoying that having sex was an effective way to level. The smile on his face was replaced with a serious expression. He took hold of both of Lydia’s hands. “Queen of Rex Germaniae, could you offer Fusion any aid in this endeavour?”

“If this were the invasion of a country on this world or a permanently connected Kingdom, I would be required to refuse you outright,” Lydia responded, her tone not yet distorted by the lustful gasps that would inevitably occur once she started riding him in earnest. “However, in this I can promise you the aid of myself and Reika. I could muster further forces, which would doubtlessly be outclassed by the level of the conflict.”

“That’s already plenty,” John said. Reika was the name for the Reichsadler, Rex Germaniae’s patron god. Goddess, currently, as she had changed sex when reincarnating upon Lydia’s coronation. The double-headed eagle was doubtlessly not at full strength yet, but a capable combatant regardless. “You are risking a lot by taking your patron to another Kingdom.”

“Her phoenix-like qualities make it less of a risk than you may think. It’d be a scandal to have her missing due to a death caused by my personal decision, but she would be reborn in time. The forces that could attempt to dethrone me over such an affair are the same I have been undermining since I took the mantle of leadership. My only risk is myself.”

John kissed her, putting all his gratitude in the gesture. After he disconnected from her soft, perfectly formed lips, the Gamer got to hear her sweet moans. She tried to keep quiet, to not interrupt the rest of the conversation. There were several other members of the harem that could provide additional resources for the coming battle. “Lorelei, have you been able to see anything?”

While he had talked, the seer had been going through everyone and glimpsed into their future, in an attempt to find anything that might be of use to them. “The tyrant wears seven heads, formed like a flower with six petals and one closed bud,” she summarised what she had seen. “A confirmation that he has seven more bodies to inhabit. I believe six of them to be dedicated to the elements, Master.”

“That would be my guess as well, having seen the earth one,” John agreed. “Anything else?”

“Yes… Master, he will cut the rope that secures you and he will shatter what you desire should you lie.”

“So, he will force me to use Escape Rope first... Unpleasant, but not unexpected.” He spared himself the question whether that changed anything for anyone around. That would be an insult to their resolve.

“Lastly, the golden one will stand taller than Arkeidos again,” Lorelei told them.

“Jevaine…” John took a deep inhale. His thoughts were momentarily inhibited by the sudden rush of pleasure he felt. Lydia’s pussy gripped him tightly, the gyrating of her hips massaged him in just the right way, and before he knew it his seed was already pumping inside her. The redhead cooed as quietly as she could as his cum prolonged a climax she had achieved seconds earlier. Once they were both relaxed again, John resumed pondering.

Exceedingly likely, Arkeidos had something in his fortress whose value competed with that of the armour he had sacrificed. That meant that they would have to deal with the overpowered Jevaine and up to seven of Arkeidos’ bodies. Any one of those would have been difficult to deal with, but with a total of eight potential enemies of that power level, the Gamer was faced with a truly difficult to solve situation.

It was as Arkeidos said, however: a conqueror always found a way.

“Eliana,” John addressed her first. “How do you feel?”

“Unreliable, stupid, worthless, like an absolute failure that can’t even murder a fucker that everyone agrees deserves it.” The pretty little psycho played with the water by sending waves from one palm to the other. “I don’t know how to solve this. Eliza and Thana are both selfish murderous fucking cunts. Even when they want the same thing, they don’t want it the same fucking way, and that tears me apart.”

“How badly?” the Gamer asked.

“Just temporary fucking confusion and internal turmoil afterwards.” Eliana rolled her eyes at something. “More than usual internal turmoil in my fucked-up brain anyway. Not enough to separate us again.”

“Could you fight Jevaine again?”

“I will fucking kill her,” Eliana growled.

“To put it in my terms: her numbers are bigger than yours,” John reminded her. As a response, he got a series of indecipherable noises. He heard Lydia amusedly blow air out of her nose and lift off his cock. A nod towards the pretty little psycho made her intentions clear. “Want to blow off some steam?” he asked.

“FUCK ME, YES!” Eliana screamed and rushed over with enough force to spill a fair bit of the water in the tub all over the rest of the haremettes. Swiftly, she mounted John and slammed herself down on his erection. Atypically for the short submissive, she both stayed on top and was incredibly aggressive. With the reckless abandon of someone in serious need of a stress outlet, she kept furiously bouncing on his crotch until a particularly intense orgasm forced her to stop.

Taking into account the depth of the problem, John grabbed the thick thighs of the spasming masochist and lifted her up with him. He carried her a few metres and then shoved her, hard, against the nearest wall. Arms wrapped around his neck, Eliana screamed, her small frame stuck between his abs and a hard place. With all the force he could muster, he thrust inside her. The hammering only slowed when he started filling her clasping cunt with his seed.

“Good girl,” he grunted into her ear, before pulling out and gently lowering her to the floor. Eliana was shaken by the occasional heavy twitch. His semen oozed from her pussy. A stupid grin was on her face. The sex-induced stupor would fade soon enough, so John let her enjoy that.

John returned to the tub, now populated by Sylph as well, and looked at Nathalia. Arms crossed, the dragoness did not return his gaze. Her head was lowered, her expression conveying deep thought. Eliana’s aggressiveness was much less weird than the redhead’s utter lack of sexual demands since his return. She was quiet, pondering, and even appeared distraught at the moment. It was due to the same question he now directed at her. “Nathalia, can you help us?”

A deep inhale signalled that she had heard him. Suddenly, she stood up. “Come with me – all of you,” she ordered in her smoky voice. John and the harem did as asked, all following the naturally swinging bubble butt of the brown-skinned goddess to the door that led into the spa area. “Lay down. On your back.” John quietly followed the order and took his place on the lounger. “Beatrice, hand me the oil. Scarlett, suck his cock.”

“Okay?” The technomancer shrugged, as interested as the rest of them where exactly this was going. The loungers in the spa room were specifically designed so that the leg area could be parted and a stool placed in the resulting gap. That let Scarlett sit down at a level on which she could access his cock comfortably.

A slow lick turned into an immediate greedy deepthroat. John had the feeling Scarlett had wanted to make this a more teasing affair, but the cock-starvation kicked in the moment she had proper contact. The women of his harem had the self-control to deal with their large Libido. When that self-control became obsolete, that was when the nymphomania came out. Her cheeks caved in, her eyelids fluttered, and Scarlett moaned in a way that no normal woman would moan when stuffing a dick down her throat.

John was distracted from the sight of perverted glee by the extreme amount of clear oil getting poured onto his chest. Glancing up to Nathalia, he saw the dragoness tilt her head one way, then the other. The way she inspected the falling oil reminded the Gamer of someone wondering how many more minutes the pizza should remain in the oven.

In the equivalent situation, the pizza would have been edible, but there would be clear singes around the corners and on the surface. Nathalia handed the bottle back to Beatrice, who opened her mouth, and closed it again. A step back, a clearly unhappy Aclysia watched as Nathalia began to spread the puddles of oil between John’s pecs to the rest of his upper body.

The Gamer did not share his first maid’s distress at the clearly unskilled massage. Nathalia had barely any idea what she was doing and there was a charm to that. Although she failed to properly pressure the typical spots of stressed tensing, her movements were gentle enough that the massage was overall pleasant. Also, John was treated to the sight of her tits dangling above him. He would have loved to let that distract him from the question at hand.

After his torso, she tended to his arms. The right one, she covered in the viscous fluid, then she shifted to the left. Her cunt entered his field of view, wet far beyond what the previous bath would have left there. Yet, there wasn’t as much as a flustered glance. Tenderly, her hands pressed on his muscles on the way down. Finally, she reached his fingers. “This one is mine, yes?” she asked, rubbing the base of his middle finger.

She was talking about the Lover’s Will mark that wrapped around the digit like a tattooed ring. It was a rhetorical question since there was a supernatural awareness on both ends of which mark was connected to which person. John answered anyway, “Yes.”

“You’re mine,” she said, then touched the heart-shaped centre of the mark above her womb. “I’m yours. All that we owe, we owe each other.” Nathalia climbed on the lounger, her hands left and right of his head. She blocked out the lamp above with her body. The incandescence of her pupils seemed much brighter. The seriousness of the burning gaze fit oddly well with the rotating bobs of Scarlett’s mouth. “My instincts are at conflict,” the dragoness confessed. “I wish to test you, to see that your seed is worthy beyond all doubt to breed my progeny. Yet, my blood boils with rage that anyone would dare to take from us.” She framed his face with her hands. Agony and love reflected in her eyes. “My John, I wish to help, yet I do not know whether I will resent you and myself if I do so before I am fully convinced of your worthiness.”

John placed his hands on hers and pulled them away from his face. A look of shock and hurt appeared on hers for a moment, and the Gamer hastily moved to intertwine their fingers. He sat up, forcing her to straighten up in the process. She towered above him, hips raised so she didn’t obstruct Scarlett, and taller than him even if they were standing. “I am worthy.” The confidence underneath these words were in utter contrast to the first eighteen years of his life.

Every fibre of his being believed in those three words. None but him deserved her. None but him could treat this gorgeous redhead properly. None but him would be able to soothe her when she revealed the insecurities within her proud, ancient soul. None but him had the capability to satisfy her desires. None but him had the valour to look her in the eye and say what he said.

“I’ve battled whatever manifestation of danger Gaia could conjure to challenge me, I’ve defeated gods so much more powerful than I, I’ve entrapped maniacs, I’ve built a nation, aided in the toppling of one of the top ten powers on the planet, commissioned the creation of the world’s most powerful weapons, sheltered tens of thousands by my name alone, and so much more than that. I’ve written history.”

“Many men I’ve been with have done that or more,” Nathalia retorted, weakly.

“And I would have all of my accomplishments erased,” John continued with his monologue. “Every mention of my name struck from the history books, to receive no glory or acknowledgement for what I did, I would agree to be remembered as a tyrant – all to spend another day with you, Nathalia. Because none of it matters to me as much as you and they do.” With their joined hands, he waved at the rest of the harem. “If this instinct to assure my might was what kept you with me, then I would not be the first to have your heart. I have already conquered it, that most precious and unique gem in the world. Only over my dead body will anyone take it from me. I am worthy.”

Nathalia’s hands tore out of his. Wildly, she grabbed his face again. Red lips, as dark as ripe strawberries, parted to reveal white teeth, more befitting of a carnivore than a human. John could explore their sharpness with his tongue, as they kissed. Such ferocity lay in the motion that the entire lounger shook when his back hit the surface again. Her pointy tongue wrestled with his. His hand dug into the back of her scalp. Both of them grunted like wild animals. Her soft tits slid up and down his oiled chest, while she grinded her pussy against one of his angled legs. The unoiled limb was almost as slick as his torso when she came at the exact same time as Scarlett gulped down the cum he pumped into her mouth.