Dark Fate, Chapter 246

Chapter 246 – Girls Night

(Imperial Palace, Ceres)

Talia Skinner led the way into the residential wing of the palace. For once, they a night to themselves, and they had some of their sister-slaves back from abroad. And that meant one thing: Girls Night.

“So, how did you get Master to agree to this?” asked Gloria, the Marine who had taken place in the Ceres Slavefight League. “I mean, I thought we were going to be having a nonstop orgy, with Master going until only the actual sex demons in the room could still move, like we did last night, when we got back. Not complaining one way or the other, since I like getting thoroughly and pleasantly fucked as much as the next girl, but I just didn’t expect this.”

“Well, it isn’t exactly a secret,” Talia said, “but ever since the Kingdom of Ceres became the Ceresan Empire, pulling in Costa Rica, Panama, and Colombia, there’s been quiet interest from smaller nations in the region. The Initialization basically destroyed the tourism industry that a lot of the countries in Central and South America relied upon, as well as the different Caribbean nations. And with the fleet coming back, and reports of Operation Slaughterhouse’s success? A delegation came up from Earth using the teleporter network. Not needing to use a shuttle to move about has made it easier for people to get up to Ceres for secret conversations.”

Yi Ming, the engineer off the Mercurial, frowned. “Go over this teleporter network. Is it like the one here on Ceres? Just jump from any teleporter pad to any other, anywhere in the Empire? That sounds like a logistical nightmare, as well as a security concern.”

“Not as much of a security concern as you would think,” Rachel Adams said. “The enchantments are complicated, but the teleporter circles form a closed loop, and they only activate for people who have signed the appropriate System Contracts, reducing the potential for abuse. As for the logistics, think of it like a series of networks, rather than one big system.”

“A series of networks?” asked the succubus pilot, Lelia ‘Heretic’ Carollo. “So, there are steps between getting from, say, Panama City to the Government District on Ceres?”

“Precisely,” Rachel nodded. “Using Panama as an example, you have the provincial network, connecting all the towns in a province to the provincial capital, and then the Panamanian network, connecting all the provincial capitals to the national capital, and then the Imperial network, connecting all the national capitals to a hub built onto the surface of Ceres. From there, you would step onto the teleporter leading from the hub to the Ceresan network, which will put you in the Government district, next to one of the circles allowing you to teleport about the station. The whole process takes longer than your normal teleport, especially if there are lines, but even at its worst, you normally would spend less time getting from a village in rural Panama to the Commercial District on Ceres than it would take you to go through the preflight screening at a pre-Initialization airport.”

Talia clapped her hands, bringing attention back her way. “At any rate, a delegation came up from Earth. They see how the new additions to the Empire are quickly gaining economic stability and military protection, and they want to be a part of that. Especially since Master openly telling people what he’s doing and planning makes it harder for detractors to spin the narrative.”

“The fact that he fought off a Tier 3 Giant Kraken while in Tier 2 doesn’t hurt, either,” added Shalaevar Herleth, the High Knelfi Dark Forest Healer that their Master had picked up while in the Commonwealth. “Even if he used a siege mage’s primary ability using a Tier 3 caster’s spells to actually destroy the beast, simply being able to go toe to toe with a creature of a higher tier is impressive on its own. Especially since the gap between tiers grows as you go up.”

Harahel, the Tier 3 caster in question, laughed, and the sound was like music to their ears. She, like Ming, was sporting a round baby bump, the only one of the current group who was pregnant, for the moment. Well, if Master’s familiar was with them, there would have been a third, but Mhyreth was with their Master.

“Our Master knows much of the System,” the Greater Angel said. “More than most mortals ever will. True, most of his knowledge is related to battle, both on the small scale, and in the leading of forces upon the field, but he has gone out of his way to learn as much as he can about the parts of the System affecting his growing Empire.”

Isis ‘Goddess’ Saliba nodded slowly. “I expect that our Master did not wish to be betrayed again, as he was in the first timeline. Knowledge is power, and protection, after all, so long as you have the will to put it into action. But what countries sent delegations?”

“Well, there were a few. Nicaragua, Honduras, El Salvador, Belize, Guatemala, Jamaica, Haiti, Ecuador, Peru… basically, every small country that isn’t an overseas territory or commonwealth nation in the region. Mexico, Brazil, Cuba, and the Dominican Republic were the only unaligned countries that didn’t send someone.”

Gloria whistled appreciatively. “That’s quite the haul. I know there isn’t much in the way of heavy industry in those countries, but there’s a lot of raw materials, dungeons, and location. If they all decide to join up with the Empire, then that puts us as a hegemony in the region. The Panama Canal already means Ceres controls a good portion of global trade, but if it expands to cover most of the Caribbean and all the way down to Cape Horn in Chile? That basically means that any maritime trade between the Atlantic and Pacific either comes through Ceresan waters, or has to go around Africa. That’s a major power play, that the established powers aren’t going to take lying down.”

The girls that had been in system all laughed at that. Hibari Kayumi, the ninja, smiled at Gloria. “They didn’t. Russia was the one responsible for the Kraken attack. In response, Master eliminated a branch of their spy service, and abducted the Russian president for a trial by combat in the arena. Ceresan territory is closed to all Russian vessels.”

“Anyways,” Talia said, once more trying to get this evening back on track, “suffice to say that our Master is busy for the evening, and we have all been left to our own devices. Therefore, it is time for Girls Night! I’ve already talked with the kitchen staff. We have the ‘Harem Lounge’ set up with a big TV, a stack of DVDs with a wide range of movies on them, lots of pillows, and eight different kinds of snacks, including ice cream. Even better, the tubs are enchanted so that the ice cream won’t melt! We also have wine for those of us who drink, and soft drinks for those who don’t, or who are pregnant. So, we’re going to kick back, enjoy ourselves, and have fun!”

Ming gasped slightly, one hand moving to her belly, before looking towards the non-Earthborn members of the group. “Uh, speaking of pregnancy, what happens to the unborn child if a woman goes up in Tier while pregnant?”

Harahel smiled, and placed a hand on the engineer’s shoulder. “Do not concern yourself. The System takes steps to ensure the safety of the child during most System processes. The System is neither cruel nor kind, but it is fair, in that way. As for the effect on the child, it will depend on the changes you went through, of course. Since you are still within the ‘Human’ evolution line, then the only real change should be what race they start out as. Given the father, I would expect that the child will start with at least a Tier 2 race, maybe a Tier 3, and will probably have one or more titles at birth.”

Ming sighed in relief. “That’s good. I hadn’t even thought about that before. There was just too much going on, with the mission, and everything. Not to mention the normal problems of blowing up like a balloon.”

“Nope, no mission talk!” Talia cut in, dragging Ming and the others to the ‘Harem Lounge’. Well, that is what they called it. Naturally, their Master had his own room, but given how many women were bound to him, and how everyone needed their own space now and then, his ‘primary pets’ all had a suite with bedrooms coming off a shared living space. The two-story lounge space sported fourteen rooms coming off of it currently. Six on the ‘ground’ floor, and eight on the second floor. Each room sported a private bathroom, but the lounge area itself included a small kitchen as well as several sofas.

Right now, as advertised, there were sofas, and cushions on the floor, all grouped around the 72” flatscreen television. The low coffee table in the center of the arrangement had ice cream and fixings for sundaes, popcorn, chips and dip, a cheese tray, veggie tray with ranch dressing, a massive tray of chicken nuggets with honey mustard and barbecue sauce to dip in, chocolates, and peanut butter cookies. Indeed, there was a wide, wide array of options, enough that, no matter what, there was sure to be something to everyone’s taste.

In comparison, the drinks on a nearby side table looked a bit out of place. Oh, the different cases of soft drinks weren’t a bad look for this kind of setup, but the multiple bottles of red wine? That clashed a bit, to say the least. Not that any of the women here needed to worry about appearances. After all, they were the kept women of the Emperor. Who cared what people outside the palace would think if they saw this?

“So, what is the first movie?” Goddess asked.

Rachel chuckled, and said, “It has come to our attention that some of our members have a few glaring holes in their film education. Especially when it comes to stories of beefcake showing off their massive muscles. Which is why I have the first pick, and we’re going to be watching Predator.”

“Ooh,” Heretic cooed. “Arnie and his band of fighters, all hot and sweaty in the jungle? All while the mysterious alien hunts them one by one? Yes, please!”

Ahshala Ililar, the high knelfi Spellshot Assassin, chuckled. “Fine, but after that, you are watching one of the movies we convinced Master to bring back from the Commonwealth when he brought us. You have to see Entwined: The Princess and the Sea-Beast. The acting is ok, but the writing is spicy as hell.”

Shalaevar grinned. “Oh, I know that one. The princess promised to the monster from the sea, to secure the future of her kingdom. And they got an actual Oceanborn Grasper as the Sea-Beast! Which caused a real controversy when the movie came out, since the star gave birth to the creature’s spawn on camera!”

Talia frowned slightly. “What is an Oceanborn Grasper?”

Ashala smirked at her. “Well, a mass of tentacles that can grow up to twelve meters in length, with a central mouth for feeding. Each tentacle is an arm, leg, hand, and injector. They’re covered in a slime that acts as a potent aphrodisiac, but can inject more through the tentacles, or use a paralytic poison, depending on whether they want to breed, or feed. Their breeding stalk is about fifty centimeters long, and implants eggs in the host. Whether they like it or not.”

“And they filmed her, with that? And then watched as the eggs hatched? What happened to the poor woman?”

Shalaevar chuckled. “Well, according to the interviews she gave, getting the twenty little tentacle beasts out was almost as orgasmic as them being put in. And the System offered her a class change from Frost Mage to Tentacle Mage. Along with the Accommodating, Deviant, and Seedbed titles.”

Hibari blinked. “The first person on Earth who unlocks the Tentacle Mage class is going to make an insane amount of money in the porn market. Even the best special effects can’t match up to what hentai has just as normal fare. Being able to use magic for something like that?”

Harahel shook her head. “Well, there are Class Change tomes in the System Shop, though I believe that the class is counted as a Rare one, which means it is priced appropriately. And the likelihood of anyone being born with it without an appropriately ‘eldritch’ heritage is unlikely.”

Talia just blinked, and then shook her head. “Right. Time to open the wine. This is not a sober conversation.”