John was keeping his head very low, trying his best not to stand out. The sound of cooking from the kitchen was one of the few sounds that echoed through the tension-thick air of the living room. Even the clanging of pots and pans were kept to a minimum, Aclysia doing her best not to give any of the three angry women sitting around the living room any reason to increase their animosity towards the world.

Only Nathalia, boringly masturbating on a chair while looking through a Playgirl, had no intent to keep silent and moaned in her husky voice. John felt triply awkward about this: one, because of the general situation, two, because she was masturbating in the living room, and three, because she was looking at pictures of naked men that weren’t him.

It was as if she was taunting him to just do her, which she probably was actually doing. Either that or Nathalia had one of her kink-cravings and was doing a little exhibitionist number. Or both. Fact was that John couldn’t really act on it.

There was the incredibly pissed off Thana, who was taking walnuts from a bowl on the television table and cracking them in her bare hands. The worst part was that she ate the entire nut, shell and all. She was just throwing the destroyed mess into her mouth, munching on shards and spreading bits of shattered walnut everywhere.

Then there was Nia, who John actually didn’t know if she was angry or not. All he had to go by was the fact that the blank was sitting still and not even attempting to go after Copernicus, currently rolled up in Rave’s lap, who was in turn sitting next to John listening to some quiet beats. Every now and again, she exchanged worried glances with him.

Lastly, there was Lydia. The princess hadn’t touched the tea that Aclysia had brought her upon entering. From the clean cup to the pot sitting on top of a small candle inside a metal cage, the set stood there unused.

“Undine,” Lydia finally uttered a single word. Inside his mind, the water elemental stirred and ebbed away from reality as far as she could. John was ready to give her a minor pep-talk and assure her that everything would be fine, but before he could do that, Undine gathered her resolve and materialized.

The blue slime gathered on the floor and then spilled upwards, taking the form of a bosom heavy woman. If there was one thing that John lamented about the fact that Undine was a slime girl, it was that her legs were fused into a barely separable pillar most of the time. He liked looking at smooth, naked legs. At least she still had an ass worth marvelling at; even naked, her lady bits were invisible though, only formed when she needed them.

“Yes?” the ocean elemental asked with the melody of the regretful.

“Are you aware that today’s loss could have been avoided if it wasn’t for your betrayal?” the princess mercilessly asked. John narrowed his eyes but waited for Undine to answer before he stepped in. He wasn’t about to let Lydia vent her frustrations on the water spirit.

“Yes,” came the downtrodden answer.

Lydia grabbed her pot of tea and started pouring herself a cup. “Very well then, this matter is settled,” she said and forcibly relaxed as she took a sip. The air in the room suddenly seemed breathable again, and John took the opportunity to make a relieved sigh.

“Really?” Thana spat out, “You are just going to let this whole fucking thing blow over like that?!”

“The expectation was that we were going to lose this match from the start,” Lydia kept her eyes on the steam rising from her tea, “While I am no-“

“I don’t fucking care about your expectations,” the blood mage interrupted. “I could have grabbed that smug bastard’s face and smashed it into the pavement until he would have needed to replace his teeth with toothpicks, waking up drenched in cold sweat in a puddle of his own fucking urine as he remembers that day!”

The outburst was unexpectedly violent, even for Thana. “I don’t think this amount of aggression towards Maximillian is warranted,” Lydia pointed out.

“Who the FUCK is talking about that brown-nosing asshole?” Thana laughed, the shrill sound making the windows rattle. “I mean that Alexej shitface and his cock-sucking attitude towards your ex-lover’s crown jewels.”

“…I didn’t take you for someone that would read old stories written on my life,” Lydia commented.

“I did not, Siena told me,” Thana picked up another walnut and rolled it between her palms. John wasn’t bothered by this, it wasn’t a secret in the first place, so Siena sharing it wasn’t a problem.

“…Either way,” the princess also didn’t make a fuss about it, “while it is correct that we lost due to avoidable circumstances…” Undine shrunk together a little bit as a grey-eyed stare wandered her way; “…I am not willing to make this a further disgrace than we need to; let us strategize about the next round instead.”

“Fucking fine,” Thana grumbled and tossed the walnut back into the bowl.

“Can I pat you?” Nia suddenly asked the blood mage. Everyone’s attention shifted to the blank, her eyes looking straight at Thana, completely unwavering. “

The fuck?” the bundle of insanity wondered.

“You look like a very angry cat right now,” Nia stated her, slightly nonsensical, reason. “Or maybe a dog? I am not sure.”

“Wait a moment,” John intercepted this exchange, and Nia turned her head around like a porcelain doll in a horror movie. ‘Why do her movements have to look this uncanny sometimes?’ John wondered and repressed a shudder. “Is that what you have been staring at her for? You aren’t angry or anything?”

Nia tilted her head quizzically, “Angry about what?”

“The fact you lost?”

“Losing is a failure to be redeemed in repeated combat. I can spend the time begrudging others patting hedgehogs instead,” Nia said, her voice neither too loud nor too quiet.

Nathalia moaned in the background. John successfully ignored that.

“So… you spent the last,” he checked the clock, “about fifty minutes building up the courage to ask Thana if you could pat her.”

Nia gave a nod with her still tilted head. “Unbelievable, that girl is so weird I almost want to cuddle her and never let her go,” Rave giggled.

“No, you cannot fucking pat me!” Thana then shouted. “The hell is wrong with you?!” Nia stood up and headed for the door. “What, are you angry now?! Feeling rejected?!” the blood mage wondered.

“No. I want to find a hedgehog,” Nia said, looking back with her typically vacant expression before leaving the room.

“I swear I want to rip open that pretty head of hers and look if her head is as empty as her personality,” Thana growled.

“She can be charming,” Lydia assured.

“Nevermind her,” John said; for his part, he felt like he was slowly gaining something like a basic grasp on Nia’s personality. She really wasn’t emotionless, she just never showed anything that could resemble emotion. Either that or he wasn’t able to pick up on a number of subtle signals yet. “What I want to know is what has you this pissed off,” he pointed at Thana. “Normally, you are the first person to say everyone should just stop taking things seriously.”

“I have my reasons, you skirt-chasing asshole,” Thana growled, and a mixture of annoyance and shame hushed over her face. “Fucking face won’t shut up. It only appears once per day now but when it does it just won’t be quiet. Eliza, Eliza, Eliza, WHO THE FUCK IS THAT EVEN?!” the armrests of the chair she was sitting on tore open as her fists clenched. “Maybe I should just start slaughtering everyone with that name, I should mu-“

“CALM DOWN!” John shouted, and Thana froze in her standing-up motion. She looked around as if she suddenly found herself in a whole other place. Streams of blood pulsated over the exposed skin of her arms, bloody clawed hands holding splinters of wood. She started to tremble as anger violently swapped over into a panic attack.

“I didn’t mean to… I-I-I…” she stammered and fell back into the cushioned chair.

John went over and gently ran his hand through her hair as she hid her face in her palms. “Calm down, Thana, it will be fine,” he promised, fixing up the chair with Craft.

“Will it?” she wondered. “Will I ever be fine?”

“Hey, if the Abyss can be trusted, we are both going to live a couple of hundred years, so we get enough time to test it,” John spoke in a soft voice. “Just calm down and take small steps.”

In a quick flail of movements, Thana wrapped her arms around his waist and buried face against his stomach instead as he kept caressing her hair. It had been a while since she last had a panic attack this pronounced, the loss must have hit her quite hard.

Of all the things that Thana knew about herself, it was only her incredible power that had been a positive and unquestionable thing. It was of no wonder that being regressed to an utterly helpless state threw her mind back to darker times. “We are going to look into Eliza once this is over, okay?” John suggested.

“Thanks,” Thana mumbled.

John sat down next to Rave a few minutes later, Thana having calmed down enough to keep quiet in her chair, arms wrapped around pulled in knees. The dots in her eyes were standing still.

“Anyhow, tomorrow, the next round will begin. We know that the next game won’t be happening until the test results for Undine’s Lorylim corruption return to us, and that will take until after the New Year’s break. We can therefore expect a normal fight tomorrow,” Lydia said.

“The second round means they get to pick their fighters in response to us, right?” Rave asked.

“Yes, that is correct,” Lydia confirmed.

John reached for Rave’s hand, a reflexive gesture more than anything else, “Which is pretty bad for us, since they now have a good idea of the match-ups.”

“Indeed.” Lydia sipped on her tea. “I expect the following things to happen: Alexej will fight Thana, thus removing her from this round with no real loss on their side. Mario will fight Nia and Nariko will fight Rave, since these match-ups have worked for them already. This means that I am most likely to face Maximillian.”

“While they delegate that goblin, Ankleshanker, to me,” John finished the line of thought.

“Sounds all fine,” Momo chimed in, giving the self-pleasuring dragoness a poisonous glare as her constant moaning was cutting into her reading, “and what is your response strategy?”

“Delaying the fights we are likely to lose for as long as possible,” Lydia answered; “We have the advantage in the long run. The further in time this tournament stretches, the higher John’s Innate Ability will elevate us via the Soulpotion.”

John smirked, “You all are just latching on to my bullshit ability.”

“It is a rather immense time investment to train using your ability, but it is still a larger increase in raw power than is normally attainable,” Lydia muttered into her teacup. “It is, however, just that: Raw power. Finesse must be attained in post, which is a mild annoyance.”

“Not all is sunshine when you can cheat your way through the world using me,” John said; “Getting an endless resource of all resources in a videogame won’t make you a lot better at that game.”

“I suppose that analogy makes sense?” the princess shrugged. “I wouldn’t know.”

“It does make sense, in the nerdy way,” Rave said and poked her boyfriend in the side, “which is the only way my man here knows about.”

 “Hey, I also know the lover’s way!”

“Ya sure?”

“Moving onto counter-measures,” Lydia intercepted before the two of them could derail this strategy discussion. “Thana, you will fight tomorrow.”

“Sure,” Thana’s grin was uncharacteristically tired. “All you need me to do is to beat whoever is dumb enough to not surrender immediately, right?”

“Yes, afterwards we will have three days to train. We will decide our further path by the results of that.”

A half-shouted moan came from the dinner table. “Are you finally finished with this trivial discussion of yours?” Nathalia lustfully complained; “I need John to fuck me within the next two minutes, or I will jump down into the city and ride the first guy that I see right on the street.”

John’s left eye twitched at the threat. So far, he had managed to keep Nathalia satisfied and exclusively his since meeting her back at the massage parlour. He very much preferred to keep it that way. Forever, if possible. ‘I have no idea how to breach that topic…’

Lydia’s left also twitched, for wholly different reasons. “Please go satisfy my unwanted visitor before she gets me in trouble with Luna,” the princess ordered John. 

John was keeping his head very low, trying his best not to stand out. The sound of cooking from the kitchen was one of the few sounds that echoed through the tension-thick air of the living room. Even the clanging of pots and pans were kept to a minimum, Aclysia doing her best not to give any of the three angry women sitting around the living room any reason to increase their animosity towards the world. Only Nathalia, boringly masturbating on a chair while looking through a Playgirl, had no intent to keep silent and moaned in her husky voice. John felt triply awkward about this: one, because of the general situation, two, because she was masturbating in the living room, and three, because she was looking at pictures of naked men that weren't him. It was as if she was taunting him to just do her, which she probably was actually doing. Either that or Nathalia had one of her kink-cravings and was doing a little exhibitionist number. Or both. Fact was that John couldn't really act on it. There was the incredibly pissed off Thana, who was taking walnuts from a bowl on the television table and cracking them in her bare hands. The worst part was that she ate the entire nut, shell and all. She was just throwing the destroyed mess into her mouth, munching on shards and spreading bits of shattered walnut everywhere. Then there was Nia, who John actually didn't know if she was angry or not. All he had to go by was the fact that the blank was sitting still and not even attempting to go after Copernicus, currently rolled up in Rave's lap, who was in turn sitting next to John listening to some quiet beats. Every now and again, she exchanged worried glances with him. Lastly, there was Lydia. The princess hadn't touched the tea that Aclysia had brought her upon entering. From the clean cup to the pot sitting on top of a small candle inside a metal cage, the set stood there unused. Undine, Lydia finally uttered a single word. Inside his mind, the water elemental stirred and ebbed away from reality as far as she could. John was ready to give her a minor pep-talk and assure her that everything would be fine, but before he could do that, Undine gathered her resolve and materialized. The blue slime gathered on the floor and then spilled upwards, taking the form of a bosom heavy woman. If there was one thing that John lamented about the fact that Undine was a slime girl, it was that her legs were fused into a barely separable pillar most of the time. He liked looking at smooth, naked legs. At least she still had an ass worth marvelling at; even naked, her lady bits were invisible though, only formed when she needed them. Yes? the ocean elemental asked with the melody of the regretful. Are you aware that today's loss could have been avoided if it wasn't for your betrayal? the princess mercilessly asked. John narrowed his eyes but waited for Undine to answer before he stepped in. He wasn't about to let Lydia vent her frustrations on the water spirit. Yes, came the downtrodden answer. Lydia grabbed her pot of tea and started pouring herself a cup. Very well then, this matter is settled, she said and forcibly relaxed as she took a sip. The air in the room suddenly seemed breathable again, and John took the opportunity to make a relieved sigh. Really? Thana spat out, You are just going to let this whole fucking thing blow over like that?! The expectation was that we were going to lose this match from the start, Lydia kept her eyes on the steam rising from her tea, While I am no- I don't fucking care about your expectations, the blood mage interrupted. I could have grabbed that smug bastard's face and smashed it into the pavement until he would have needed to replace his teeth with toothpicks, waking up drenched in cold sweat in a puddle of his own fucking urine as he remembers that day! The outburst was unexpectedly violent, even for Thana. I don't think this amount of aggression towards Maximillian is warranted, Lydia pointed out. Who the FUCK is talking about that brown-nosing asshole? Thana laughed, the shrill sound making the windows rattle. I mean that Alexej shitface and his cock-sucking attitude towards your ex-lover's crown jewels. I didn't take you for someone that would read old stories written on my life, Lydia commented. I did not, Siena told me, Thana picked up another walnut and rolled it between her palms. John wasn't bothered by this, it wasn't a secret in the first place, so Siena sharing it wasn't a problem. Either way, the princess also didn't make a fuss about it, while it is correct that we lost due to avoidable circumstances Undine shrunk together a little bit as a grey-eyed stare wandered her way; I am not willing to make this a further disgrace than we need to; let us strategize about the next round instead. Fucking fine, Thana grumbled and tossed the walnut back into the bowl. Can I pat you? Nia suddenly asked the blood mage. Everyone's attention shifted to the blank, her eyes looking straight at Thana, completely unwavering. The fuck? the bundle of insanity wondered. You look like a very angry cat right now, Nia stated her, slightly nonsensical, reason. Or maybe a dog? I am not sure. Wait a moment, John intercepted this exchange, and Nia turned her head around like a porcelain doll in a horror movie. Why do her movements have to look this uncanny sometimes?' John wondered and repressed a shudder. Is that what you have been staring at her for? You aren't angry or anything? Nia tilted her head quizzically, Angry about what? The fact you lost? Losing is a failure to be redeemed in repeated combat. I can spend the time begrudging others patting hedgehogs instead, Nia said, her voice neither too loud nor too quiet. Nathalia moaned in the background. John successfully ignored that. So you spent the last, he checked the clock, about fifty minutes building up the courage to ask Thana if you could pat her. Nia gave a nod with her still tilted head. Unbelievable, that girl is so weird I almost want to cuddle her and never let her go, Rave giggled. No, you cannot fucking pat me! Thana then shouted. The hell is wrong with you?! Nia stood up and headed for the door. What, are you angry now?! Feeling rejected?! the blood mage wondered. No. I want to find a hedgehog, Nia said, looking back with her typically vacant expression before leaving the room. I swear I want to rip open that pretty head of hers and look if her head is as empty as her personality, Thana growled. She can be charming, Lydia assured. Nevermind her, John said; for his part, he felt like he was slowly gaining something like a basic grasp on Nia's personality. She really wasn't emotionless, she just never showed anything that could resemble emotion. Either that or he wasn't able to pick up on a number of subtle signals yet. What I want to know is what has you this pissed off, he pointed at Thana. Normally, you are the first person to say everyone should just stop taking things seriously. I have my reasons, you skirt-chasing asshole, Thana growled, and a mixture of annoyance and shame hushed over her face. Fucking face won't shut up. It only appears once per day now but when it does it just won't be quiet. Eliza, Eliza, Eliza, WHO THE FUCK IS THAT EVEN?! the armrests of the chair she was sitting on tore open as her fists clenched. Maybe I should just start slaughtering everyone with that name, I should mu- CALM DOWN! John shouted, and Thana froze in her standing-up motion. She looked around as if she suddenly found herself in a whole other place. Streams of blood pulsated over the exposed skin of her arms, bloody clawed hands holding splinters of wood. She started to tremble as anger violently swapped over into a panic attack. I didn't mean to I-I-I she stammered and fell back into the cushioned chair. John went over and gently ran his hand through her hair as she hid her face in her palms. Calm down, Thana, it will be fine, he promised, fixing up the chair with Craft. Will it? she wondered. Will I ever be fine? Hey, if the Abyss can be trusted, we are both going to live a couple of hundred years, so we get enough time to test it, John spoke in a soft voice. Just calm down and take small steps. In a quick flail of movements, Thana wrapped her arms around his waist and buried face against his stomach instead as he kept caressing her hair. It had been a while since she last had a panic attack this pronounced, the loss must have hit her quite hard. Of all the things that Thana knew about herself, it was only her incredible power that had been a positive and unquestionable thing. It was of no wonder that being regressed to an utterly helpless state threw her mind back to darker times. We are going to look into Eliza once this is over, okay? John suggested. Thanks, Thana mumbled. John sat down next to Rave a few minutes later, Thana having calmed down enough to keep quiet in her chair, arms wrapped around pulled in knees. The dots in her eyes were standing still. Anyhow, tomorrow, the next round will begin. We know that the next game won't be happening until the test results for Undine's Lorylim corruption return to us, and that will take until after the New Year's break. We can therefore expect a normal fight tomorrow, Lydia said. The second round means they get to pick their fighters in response to us, right? Rave asked. Yes, that is correct, Lydia confirmed. John reached for Rave's hand, a reflexive gesture more than anything else, Which is pretty bad for us, since they now have a good idea of the match-ups. Indeed. Lydia sipped on her tea. I expect the following things to happen: Alexej will fight Thana, thus removing her from this round with no real loss on their side. Mario will fight Nia and Nariko will fight Rave, since these match-ups have worked for them already. This means that I am most likely to face Maximillian. While they delegate that goblin, Ankleshanker, to me, John finished the line of thought. Sounds all fine, Momo chimed in, giving the self-pleasuring dragoness a poisonous glare as her constant moaning was cutting into her reading, and what is your response strategy? Delaying the fights we are likely to lose for as long as possible, Lydia answered; We have the advantage in the long run. The further in time this tournament stretches, the higher John's Innate Ability will elevate us via the Soulpotion. John smirked, You all are just latching on to my bullshit ability. It is a rather immense time investment to train using your ability, but it is still a larger increase in raw power than is normally attainable, Lydia muttered into her teacup. It is, however, just that: Raw power. Finesse must be attained in post, which is a mild annoyance. Not all is sunshine when you can cheat your way through the world using me, John said; Getting an endless resource of all resources in a videogame won't make you a lot better at that game. I suppose that analogy makes sense? the princess shrugged. I wouldn't know. It does make sense, in the nerdy way, Rave said and poked her boyfriend in the side, which is the only way my man here knows about. Hey, I also know the lover's way! Ya sure? Moving onto counter-measures, Lydia intercepted before the two of them could derail this strategy discussion. Thana, you will fight tomorrow. Sure, Thana's grin was uncharacteristically tired. All you need me to do is to beat whoever is dumb enough to not surrender immediately, right? Yes, afterwards we will have three days to train. We will decide our further path by the results of that. A half-shouted moan came from the dinner table. Are you finally finished with this trivial discussion of yours? Nathalia lustfully complained; I need John to fuck me within the next two minutes, or I will jump down into the city and ride the first guy that I see right on the street. John's left eye twitched at the threat. So far, he had managed to keep Nathalia satisfied and exclusively his since meeting her back at the massage parlour. He very much preferred to keep it that way. Forever, if possible. I have no idea how to breach that topic' Lydia's left also twitched, for wholly different reasons. Please go satisfy my unwanted visitor before she gets me in trouble with Luna, the princess ordered John.