The passion that took hold of John after that moment was indescribable. It coursed through all of them, fighters and non-combatants alike. Certainty of what they meant to each other bound them together stronger than any other tie. The lengths to which they would go for one another was established. All of them put their all behind saving one of them – even if that one happened to be someone whose true acceptance into the harem was yet pending on actually meeting most of them.

That was an issue they would grapple with in a couple of days.

For the moment, they were claimed by a heat that consumed everything. Reasonable thoughts, the perception of time, spatial awareness, all of it was completely subsumed. A list of factors fuelled this particular fire. Nathalia’s final agreement to being his woman. All of the serious talks within the harem having been had. The deep-seated desire to do something life-affirming after their loss. A thorough appreciation of their love for one another. Simple horniness, caused by weeks of either subpar (by their standards) or no sex. It all combined into a hodgepodge of lust.@@novelbin@@

One moment he was nailing Nathalia on the heated floor of the spa, the next he was pumping Lydia’s asshole full of his cum in the showers, only to find himself facefucking Lee in the doorway to the living room. He ploughed Aclysia over the kitchen counter. Sharp sounds of spanking Momo were etched into his memory. Sylph, Nia, and Lorelei were sucking him off on the couch, their faces already plastered with his load. Salamander’s fat ass was presented to him, leftmost of a row consisting of her, Beatrice, Gnome, and Rave. In an almost steady stream, his seed pumped out of his dick and into Siena, who writhed on the ground in front of his bed. Like a proper sex slave, Metra had her face down and ass up while he hammered her over the edge of the bed. Eliana rode him again, at his order this time, her arms tightly bound behind her back and a fresh collar around her neck. In her human form, Undine laid underneath him as he fucked her milky white tits. He choked Scarlett until she was just about to pass out, while he repeatedly overcame the tight embrace of her legs around his waist. Tirelessly, Sylph screamed as she had all three of her holes stretched and filled in quick succession.

Throughout it all, no matter who John focused on at the time, the entirety of the harem always congregated around him. They were drawn to his assertiveness, his dominance of character, and although this latest development showed largely what they were willing to sacrifice for one another, their primary attraction was his clarity in purpose of protecting the only one of his possessions he truly cared about – them. Individually, they had fallen for him, for many reasons. All of them shared this one. All of them were turned on beyond belief, watching this aspect of him surface so intensely. They screamed, moaned, whispered and gasped those emotions throughout the chain of encounters. With no second body to split the attention, they were all around him at all times. Their love only focused on one another when there was no way to reach him through the pile of bodies. It was all about him. The passion made their love for him as naked as their bodies. Even the sassiest of them were swept away by the moment.

And then John woke up.

For one second, the sensation of independent thought was so alien that the Gamer wondered whether he had actually dreamt everything since his eighteenth birthday. In a complete reversal of the irregular nightmares of missing a test, John was incredibly happy that the contents of his ‘dream’ were very much reality. If the ocean of incredibly attractive bodies wasn’t proof enough for that, then the utterly sticky mess of his skin certainly was.

The enchantment on the sheets must have been working overtime for John to be able to lift his head without feeling any cloth rip off his cheek like a dry-glued bandaid. The connection between him and Rave was not as smooth. Just a little bit of movement let him know that the adhesive mixture between sweat and sexual fluid had dried into a particularly unpleasant glue. Distantly, he remembered that he had thrust up into her to the point of total exhaustion. He must have cum one last time, closed his eyes, and blacked out without further warning. That his girlfriend hadn’t moved at all in her sleep spoke to the general state of exhaustion.

John also felt an almost forgotten combination of emotions. He was thirsty, starving, and needed to take a piss. The first two were bad enough to give him a debuff. The last one bad enough that he felt perhaps it should. Since Aclysia had started to pay attention to his nutritional intake, the Gamer had basically never woken up with more than a basic desire for breakfast, which ramped up over the course of his other morning rituals. Before then, a ‘final’ round of League of Legends had usually seemed more important than a meal, so he skipped out on eating regularly. No wonder that he had been so thin.

‘Do I…?’ the Gamer asked himself and looked around him. He hated to disturb his loves, especially during such a well-deserved rest. Even the Artificial Spirits were still asleep. ‘Well, shut down more like it,’ he corrected himself. Much as he did not want to wake anyone up, nature’s call was too intense to ignore.

Rave opened her eyes for three solid seconds, when he freed himself from under her. There was some basic understanding of the situation on her face. Swiftly, she closed her eyes again and immediately dropped back into her slumber. John stood in his bed and focused on the floor. Magus Step took him out without the need to tip-toe around the inert curves of his women.

John teleported all the way to the toilet, including through the bathroom door. Afterwards, he made his way to the kitchen. His hunger was more intense than his desire to be clean. With very little thought, he tossed toppings on slices of bread. He didn’t even take the time for butter. A glass of milk accompanied the two slices. That turned into a litre of milk, a glass of water, four slices of bread and half a brie.

Then he was suddenly incredibly tired again. He didn’t know if he had the power to sneak back into the bed. Thankfully, it was summer in the Guild Hall. A blanket was at best a psychological factor to sleeping. Therefore, he simply toppled down on the Couch. By the time he hit the surface, the leather had shifted into a typical mattress.

To know how much longer he slept would have required that he had checked what time it had been when he first laid down. Judging by the light outside, it hadn’t been too long. He was still alone as well. Had he been out for a prolonged time, at least Aclysia would have been doing something by now.

John went to the bathroom again, this time to step into the regular shower they had in there. Afterwards, he was sated, wide awake, clean and still on his own. He did not like the last part. Much as he could appreciate the occasional time to think in peace, he did not really want to do that at the moment. The stress would settle back in soon enough.

With nothing else to do, he checked his phone. The work phone first. It was practically empty of notifications and the ones that were there were all notes by Scarlett, most of them describing what he owed her in favours when he got back. ‘The one time I wanted to distract myself with paperwork and my state-hating Scarlett did the brunt of it.’ The Gamer shook his head in faux-outrage. What little work remained, he’d have to do from the office. ‘I wonder how she explained that to the administrators… they probably guessed she speaks for me.’

Putting his work phone aside, John grabbed his private one. To his surprise, he found that he had two new messages. One was from Magnus, writing on his and his father’s behalf, asking what exactly had transpired. The other was from Maximillian, the content essentially the same. He didn’t have to guess where they had learned about this, Ted had almost certainly told them. The general was not as close with those two as John was, but close enough that he would have shared something like this.

John Interfaced with the phone to quickly type out the message, giving the total breakdown of the situation, including Claire, his hunch that she may be alive, and his strategy moving forwards. Magnus answered first with a text that carried his understanding and asked whether he or his father should get ready for an impromptu grinding session. Before John could answer that, his screen was claimed completely by the ‘Maximillian is calling’ window.

Somewhat startled by the suddenness, John regardless pushed the button and accepted the call. “Hey, buddy,” he greeted, his tone as cheerful as the situation at large justified.

“Hey,” Maximillian responded and cleared his throat. “So, you’re going back there?”

“Not much of a choice if I want to get what I want,” the Gamer responded. “Make fun of me if you want to.”

“Oh, I will – AFTER this whole affair is done with,” the self-exiled king assured him. “I just want to ask one question: do you need – want – my help?”

The Gamer produced the cut-off sound of speechlessness. Ponderance and the disbelief that he had a friend like this rose in unequal measure. He had to fight down the latter, just to look at the situation soberly. Maximillian was about level 200, impressive on Earth, even in the Iron Domain, yet he would be threatened immensely by the Archdukes and Monarchs. John didn’t want to throw his friend into the meat grinder. He also needed whatever help he could get. “It’ll be incredibly dangerous.”

“That’s why I’m asking.”

“I’m saying that you very well may die. There’ll be no Fateweaving, no lifeline, no mercy. The Ironborn will fight to the death.”

“You would do the same for me,” Maximillian responded, his voice filled with resolve.

John wasn’t sure when he had last felt like the lesser of two people. Two words echoed in his head, ‘Would I?’ Certainly, he would have loved to believe so. For his loves, he would evidently go there. For his friends? For his best friend? ‘If I wouldn’t right now, I should become a person that would,’ he said to himself.

“Don’t misunderstand me,” Maximillian continued, when John’s prolonged silence created a gap to fill. “I’m not just doing it because you need my help. If this was only about you adding another lady to your harem, you would have to do this without me. I’m offering my assistance because it’s the right thing to do. We’re leaders, you and I, and we should always strive to do right by the world we aim to leave behind, right?”

Nodding instinctively, John responded, “Right. I’d gladly accept your help, Max. Just… know that there’ll be many forces there you can’t stand up against.”

There was a moment of silence. “I’ll keep that in mind. I’ll leave you to the organisation.”

“I’ll call you.”

“Good.”

The call ended and John let out a long exhale. Should he be smiling because he had such fantastic people around him or frown because he was pulling them into such a dangerous situation? In the end, he just blankly stared at the ceiling, until his girlfriend bowed over him. “Morn’, tiger,” she greeted him.

“You look crusty,” he joked and stood up. “Let’s get to the shower.” He leaned over and saw the rest of the harem pour out of the bedroom. It appeared there had been a chain of awakenings and now everyone was up and about.

“If we have time for that,” Rave said and hurriedly led everyone into the bathroom. Before following them, John quickly wrote his answer to Magnus. Leaving the phone on the usual countertop, he went into the shower with everyone else.

They were unable to hold a conversation inside as Rave cranked the shower up to its highest setting. Simulated rain, so intense John had less than two metres visibility, poured down on the haremettes. The humans among them scrubbed frantically, cleaning themselves in a hurry seldom seen inside these rooms. Noticing this oddity, John stepped over to the control panel and toned the stream down.

“Why’re you in such a hurry?” he asked them.

“Besides the happenstance that I am best advised returning to my offices for a quick announcement of absence? We must be ready to enter the barrier upon Magoi’s arrival,” Lydia answered him, raising an eyebrow at his shaking head. “Would such speed not be appropriate, after we wasted a night?”

“We’re not entering time dilation,” John put it into simple terms.

The members of the harem who had been unaware of this, due their missing mental connection, were surprised by this announcement. “Whaddaya mean, tiger?”

“This isn’t something we can solve by me eking out a few more levels,” the Gamer told all of them. “I’m not relying on myself for this. There are too many targets: Arkeidos has too many bodies, Jevaine, the other two Monarchs, the Iron Maidens, the Eternal Fortress itself and whatever hidden horrors there may be. It’s too much for us to prepare for in three days. We need allies. Relax. Get clean. Then, after breakfast, we’ll discuss who we can call.”