Chapter 1794 – The not-so-Small Tournament 15 – Before the Finale
Fights between Abyssals were layered things.
Skill was a decisive factor, but only when the gap in raw power was narrow enough that it could actually affect anything. That base power, levels in terms of John’s view of the world, was the ground an Abyssal covered and skill was then the reach they had beyond that ground. Some had skills that let them extend vastly beyond that ground, others were so poor that they effectively diminished what range they had.
Regardless of what it was, a fundamental truth remained: some gaps were insurmountable. With all of the preparation in the world, the country of Lichtenstein would never beat the USA in a war. In the process of becoming a country that could, anything but the name would be changed out. Abyssals didn’t have the option of annexing neighbours, they were born with the body they had and stuck with it. Based on Innate Ability, that body could be quite fluid in its appearance, but it was still their body down to the last molecule.
The Abyss was unfair. It was life multiplied in every way. Possibilities, differences, dreams, nightmares, everything had the borders of reality on it lifted by the presence of magic. Mana was the sledgehammer to the wall that was ‘impossible’. Of course, where one wall was broken down, another one had to be erected eventually.
For the man that had just launched a bullet at John, Ehtra was that wall.
The grey angel pulled the bolt gun from the holster on her thick thigh. ‘Do not shoot,’ John instructed her, while she was still aiming. ‘I need them alive for questioning.’
‘As you desire, my king,’ the First of Hatred answered mentally. Another bullet turned into sparks upon impact on her Astrotium wings. The first round had met the side of her blade instead. Bullets were an odd thing in the Abyss. A supersonic piece of metal was still dangerous, but simultaneously the flesh of anyone above level 50 started to become too tough for bullets to do more than shallow wounds. It was as if the skin itself turned into a bulletproof vest. That left blunt force damage as a consideration, but even that became less and less of a factor as levels went higher.
‘I wonder if there’s a degree of supernatural desire there as well,’ John thought. ‘Hailey proved to me that every Abyssal bends reality around them in little ways passively, no matter what their magic is. If we didn’t, the more absurd feats we pull off would cause unwanted side effects as we interact with the laws of physics. Could it be that bullets get weakened by that same field? A collective human instinct that magic is cooler than guns?’
It was pure theory. Certainty in magic was difficult to come by, arguably even harder than physics. Which, as far as John knew, could have been a sort of magic in itself. He wasn’t Gaia, he didn’t have the answers.
A third round bounced off Ehtra’s boob. It jiggled. John found that amusing. It was also the last round the man got to shoot. One of John’s Ego Blades had flown across the distance and, courtesy of Spellcarrier, was able to cast two Mana Chains. That immobilized the attacker… and obliterated most of their hands.
“Level 23…” John muttered, now that he had Observe on the man. It was an alright level for the regular Abyssal, but it was an absurd attempt. Observe also revealed that he could have spared himself the trouble of keeping him alive. There was no bigger conspiracy here, the man was just a lunatic that had convinced himself he could become someone important this way. ‘We will never be rid of those, I guess.’
The local police arrived and John handed the man over to be taken care of by the justice system. “What will happen to him?” Ehtra asked, genuinely curious. “Will your soft laws see him released in ten years?”
“If he attacked me in the middle of nowhere, maybe,” John answered, “but he shot at me with people around, so they will probably up it to the death penalty.”
“That you would even attempt to rehabilitate this level of idiocy is a waste of resources.”
“You are correct and yet you are incorrect.” John put his arm around the waist of the grey angel. They continued the talk and their date as if nothing had happened. Attempts on John’s life by some morons with big heads that had survived from all of the Small Fry guilds were common enough that John would have needed four hands to count them all. “Success rate of rehabilitating criminals is indeed not that high, but it’s bigger than zero. We probably get less money out of it than we put in, but we have the resources to spare to run a merciful system like that.”
“Mercy can easily slide into naivety,” Ehtra stated.
“Agreed, but for now I don’t think we have an issue in sliding too far down that side of things.” John would have continued that conversation, but Ehtra was now on high alert. Threat or not, assassination attempts did sour the mood of a date. “Want to head back to the island?”
Ehtra’s answer was a simple and straightforward, “Yes.”
______________________________________________________________________
“This little vacation is ending tomorrow,” John sighed and leaned back. He was out in the garden with a good chunk of his harem. Ehtra was still there, practically taunting him with her curvaceous body. For some reason, she had decided to change into a truly tiny bikini. It was technically a one-piece, but consisted almost entirely of strings that were purely decorative in nature.
It was a wonderfully lewd outfit that hid the bare necessities without actually hiding anything. In an odd and sexy contrast to the black and white swimwear, she wore a pair of secretary glasses. A tablet held in one hand served as a stand-in for a clipboard. Body language and outfit made her the very image of a secretary with benefits.
The Gamer was situated in a recliner and she on a regular garden chair right next to him. It was entirely natural for him to reach over and take a handful of her ass. Rolling her eyes, the First of Hatred acted as if she did not want that at all, yet said or did nothing to prevent him from fondling the squish of her maid-worthy backside.
“I am planning your schedule for after the vacation,” Ehtra told him. “Which you made more complicated by deciding we need to have an immediate Raid session with Romulus after it.”
“That can wait a bit,” John told her. His voice was low and insistent, a combination that had Ehtra lower the tablet and listen carefully. “I would like to see you dance for me.”
“D-dance?!” Ehtra suddenly blushed. “I’m a weapon forged from the primordial hatred of chaos and the metal of space and you want me to swing my hips for your amusement?”
Fingers slowly wandered up her back, making the darkest-skinned member of his harem (discounting Salamander and Siena in their human disguises) shiver as they went. “Are you defying your Master?”
“…No, Master.” Ehtra’s resistance melted like butter in a pan. She got on her feet and turned around. Wordlessly she took the bottle of oil that John pulled from his inventory. The First of Hatred was the embodiment of sweet-and-sour in a very attractive chassis.
Aroused breaths filled the air as Ehtra began to move. Elegantly, she twisted the cap off the oil bottle. The metal straw unsealed, letting the clear liquid pour from the container. It covered her massive tits, pearled down her abs, and further to her thighs. Spread digits rubbed the streams over her body, as she shook to her own rhythm. A twirl presented her juicy ass to him. Excessive amounts of oil were spread all over it. When she gave herself a hard smack, the liquid splattered in every direction.
Tossing the now unneeded bottle aside, Ehtra began her dance in earnest. She tugged at the strings of her micro bikini while spreading the oil all over herself. The rhythmic, borderline tribal, motions of her hips were mesmerizing. No part of her was left untouched by the oil, her constantly moving hands made sure of it. From her face to the tips of her toes, she spread it everywhere.
The show naturally attracted the attention of the other haremettes around. Nathalia, Gnome, Salamander, Nia, Metra, Lee, Lydia, Scarlett and Claire formed a loose circle of onlookers to the show. Ehtra’s face was visibly darkened from embarrassment and arousal. Her left hand was near constantly around her pussy now, tugging at the strings to emphasize her camel toe or rubbing her cunt both under and over the thin fabric.
As the show went on, John’s own desire reached a point where looking alone was unsustainable. Scarlett was closest and moved quicker than he could pull her. Her pink lips wrapped around his cock and her head began to bounce to the same unheard rhythm Ehtra was dancing to. His harem was always in sync.
In front of everyone, oiled up and dancing, Ehtra brought herself to completion. John came while the angel maid was still spasming, grinding against her own fingers. His seed pumped down Scarlett’s throat.
Past that first orgasm, the scene became a little more relaxed. Nathalia decided to join Ehtra in her dancing, without the pretence of clothing. ‘An image for the gods,’ he thought as two busty, tall, toned, gorgeous ladies of immense power grinded against each other. Huge tits pressed together, tongues swirled as lips met, and they moaned. ‘Actually, that image is just for me and mine… then again, how far away are we from gods?’
Not a literal question. In terms of level, the harem exceeded the average god by this point and Nathalia obviously was an above average one. It was about the proverbial gods, the kind John had learned about from mundane legends. In terms of raw power, in his ability to reshape the world, he was definitely above that.
The dance continued, as did the blowjob. John was ripped out of his thoughts by the blaring sound of a motorcycle. He looked up to find one such vehicle zooming over the street that ran a circle around Servitude Island.
The driver of it suddenly ripped the front wheel to the right – towards the mansion. In a moment that John found to be physics defying, the vehicle tilted nearly 90 degrees, then went back upright. What he found more concerning was that the motorcycle was now rolling at top speed over the path between road and garden. Then it was barrelling down the garden, weaving through the fields with the confidence of a devil.
John was starting to get alarmed. The motorcycle came right for all of them. The loud engine had Scarlett raise her head. “What the fuck is going o-“ she asked.
The motorcycle twisted sideways, skidding over the stone floor. Screeching, the vehicle came to a halt just in front of the group. Pulling the helmet off, the driver revealed her wavy red hair. Gloves soon followed. Moira pulled a phone out of a pocket and mashed a button. “YES!” she exclaimed.
“Yes what?” John asked, slightly annoyed.
Moira blinked and looked up, as if only now realizing that they were all there. “Ehmm… I broke… a record…” she said in a quiet voice. She cleared her throat. “I apologize for the interruption of your… usual activities.”
John found that interesting. She didn’t even look at all of the naked, post-orgasmic women around her. That she was unfazed was secondary to him realizing that she was a horribly aggressive driver and third to his annoyance that she was messing with his day.
Rave, Hailey and Lorelei landed in the garden. The three of them had run after the motorcycle at superhuman speed, it looked like. Realistically, they could have caught up and overtook it if they wanted to. “Ya done goofed, Moi-moi.”
“Why?” The redhead turned off the engine, then hung the helmet off the handle. She did look pretty fantastic in the biker suit.
“You skidmarked Aclysia’s floor.”
“I’ll go get a mop for her,” Ehtra stated and went into the mansion.
“I… do humbly apologize.” Now dismounted, the Warden checked on the damage she had done to the flooring. “I do get a little wild when I am on a bike.”
“A supreme understatement,” Lorelei added drily. “Moira, you become a sinner on that vehicle.”
“I am allowed a vice!” Moira cried.
“As long as you clean up after yourself,” John groaned.
Ehtra soon came back with all of the tools needed to scrub the floor. ‘I could just fix it…’ Gnome informed John.
‘No, this is proper. She’s been getting on my nerves a lot the last couple of days, so the least she can do is scrub the floor.’ Moira wasn’t even reluctant about it. Ever the dutiful soul, she went at it without a single word of protest. ‘The thought occurs that she is probably happy to have a space where she can make mistakes without them becoming a religious issue…’ John sighed and left her to the task. “Since I have all of you here now and the rest over with the Ambassador Double, how about we pick the next Class Level?”
Lydia took that as her cue to claim the spot to his right side before anyone else could. The recliner was a Gamer™ design, which meant it had space for haremettes to cuddle with to both sides. Lee managed to wiggle her way into the other side, while the queen talked. “A proper decision. Which Class are you investing in now?”
“It’s either Space Protector, Monster Girl Creator or the Lover,” John answered. “Space Protector is level 8, so it might be worthwhile to finish it up. Monster Girl Creator is level 3 and the Lover is level 1, but both of those have pretty powerful Perks, so…”
“I would advocate for the Lover, selfish as that may be,” Lydia gave her opinion. “If Jane was granted an upgrade from it, it stands to reason that us others will as well.”
John nodded and that was about the only argument he needed to go with that choice. He was pretty happy with where he currently was in terms of Illusion Barriers. With Lee currently having a growth spurt in her abilities, investing in it himself was practically only done to unlock more mechanics or bonuses for the Guild Hall. Similarly, empowering the Artificial Spirits at the current stage felt unnecessary. The Lover had the highest chance of giving his haremettes a quality of life upgrade and he always cared about that.
“Let’s see what that second level does then,” he declared.
The Harem Network was a repeat and a very alluring one at that. Regardless, though, it was the other two Perks that John would decide between.
Wild and Servant Lover’s Will both had parts of the Regal version. Wild had the lesser Gamer’s Body while Servant had Create I.D. and Loot Tables. Both were incredible. For the Wild version, it was particularly the Lifesteal 5 that caught John’s attention. That was a no conditions 5% of damage done heal for whichever haremettes qualified. For the Servant Mark, what made it incredible was that it was doubtlessly going on the maids, who could then go out and grind for money and materials whenever. Them getting more barrier control than the current ‘entering and leaving’ they had would also help tremendously.
It was that latter part that convinced John to go with it. “I’m sure Wild will show up again,” he told everyone. “Ehtra, can you stand right here?”
“Sure, sure, I’ll be the show piece,” the grey angel complained, but did as requested. John pressed the button and the mark above her womb changed. The side arms grew more intricate and a second heart shadowed the first at the centre.
The mark appeared also, as could be expected, on Aclysia, Beatrice, Claire, Delicia, Momo and Nahoa. The entire maid cadre got that upgrade.
‘I wonder where this will go in the future,’ John thought.