Forbidden Tomboy 13 – Breaking Intricacies

Xi Pang’s ‘casual’ gathering had been organized in the Ministry of Fruits Foreign and Domestic. It was a typical structure near the walkway that separated east and west of the Forbidden City. The specific hall they were in was neither too large to feel opulent nor so small that it was intimate. It was filled to just the right level that it felt like the kind of exclusive social club that one wanted to have access to. The prime minister was trying to make it clear that he had influence to sell.

The peculiar name of the ministry made John ask a question shortly after the few intricacies of greeting were out of the way, “Was there a previous Ministry of Fruits?”

“No, there are three Ministries of Fruits,” Xi Pang answered simply. “We require all three of them for the fruitful labour of its many bureaucrats.”

“I am beginning to wonder if you shouldn’t side with Vinh when it comes to burning this all down,” Nathalia stated.

The Gamer felt his insides knot up. Was it the fact that Nathalia had just committed an immense diplomatic slight? No, it was that he had to hold back his laughter.

There was some scoffing by the gathered people of import, all of them raising an eyebrow at the Flame of Destruction’s remark. There were some open mutterings about it. ‘Not the reaction I am used to,’ John thought to himself. ‘Usually, people cower at least a little bit.’

Nathalia ignored the people, regarded Xi Pang with another dismissive look, then stepped away to indulge in the table covered in various snacks. As she walked, she snapped her fingers at a servant. “Bring me more,” was her simple order.

To John’s ears, she spoke English. That the servant bowed her head and obeyed immediately was the clear indicator that she had gone with Draconic instead. Romulus’ spell was still active, translating anything said in that language into whatever a person could understand. A spell that John understood a lot better these days. Draconic was itself a magical phenomenon. Every dragon that came to possess sapience just spoke it, without any communication between them. That meant that the language was itself ingrained in the leylines of the world, which made a spell to affect it globally a lot more feasible.

Less impressive than what John had initially thought, he had to admit. Romulus wouldn’t be able to do the same for any regular language. Still, very impressive all around. Almost as impressive as the sides of Nathalia’s hips peeking out of the side slits of her black dress. The Victorian modesty had been a thing of the first two days. Nathalia had played ball with his desire to be diplomatic, but she had insisted on at least wearing something that wasn’t as ‘constricting’.

The entire room hung on his goddess as she picked up varieties of fruit snacks with one hand. She kept the other on her hips, striking a demanding pose that emphasized the size of her assets. The plunging neckline of the dark dress sat just tight enough that no one could see the pasties. Besides that, very little was hidden. Her enormous breasts sagged to that heavenly degree that proved their realness, while being as firm as one could dream of. Cleavage and side boob were both on display. With her matronly figure, dark skin and height, she stood out in the room even more than John did.

The prime minister peeled his eyes away from the goddess. Such difficulty lay in the gesture that it was all the confirmation the Gamer needed to know that the man had certainly circumvented being turned into a eunuch. “I… would not recommend publicly endorsing the position of the robber general,” Xi said quietly to John.

‘I do enjoy seeing him shaken,’ the Gamer thought. The disadvantage of needing an honourable reputation was that he couldn’t make people tremble like Nathalia did. Just another reason to keep her around – not that he needed more than the ones he had. “I have no intention of endorsing any position,” he lied. “The internal politics of the Middle Empire are not mine to weigh in on.”

Xi smiled the kind of appeased smile that could have fooled most people. It was the kind of smile he had not allowed himself in any previous interactions, giving it a warmth that the prime minister usually lacked. It did invite one to trust him, to see this little social club as where the real Xi Pang showed himself.

John had interacted with enough corrupt narcissists to know that there was no such thing as a ‘real Xi Pang’. There were only different masks worn in service of the overarching goal of advancing his wealth. Personality traits were just tools to such people.

“Trees stand tallest on their own and a forest is not made from single trees,” Xi said. “I do believe you understand that.”

John showed the prime minister a little bit of teeth in his smile. “I understand very well how to tend to a garden, prime minister.” He raised a hand and one of the servant women hastened over to place a glass of light **** in it. “I also understand that one has to wander forests to understand their beauty.”

The prime minister stared while John sipped, his annoyance at that answer expertly withheld. John noted it all the same. The man truly was excellent, but excellent truly did not cut it anymore when it came to making diplomatic manoeuvres against the Gamer. As President of Fusion, he had more power than Xi Pang. Even assuming they were effectively matched in political savviness, John just had more to offer.

‘I suppose this is an opportunity to advance Lulu’s interests,’ the Gamer thought. “Perhaps I have acted hastily in shopping for new greeneries without your expert opinion,” he complimented first. “Are there any other projects that could be in our mutual… interest?”

The girthy prime minister pondered the question for a moment. “Perhaps I ought to introduce you to one of my friends?” he suggested. “There’s been a great interest in understanding Fusion’s vineyards.”

John withheld an amused chuckle. Fusion did indeed have a booming vineyard sector. To be more precise, Fusion had a booming **** industry. Being laissez-faire with the **** and production laws had its benefits. The whole thing had sprung up on its own. That meant John had no direct stake in it either, but he was sure he could pull some strings.

‘Bit by bit, I’ll make so much of Xi Pang’s financial network dependent on me that I can just collapse it all with one stroke of the pen,’ the Gamer thought. ‘It’ll take layers of obfuscation, but Scarlett can work the miracle. She’ll support this if she gets her foot in the Chinese market along the way.’

On the way to the prime minister’s ‘friend’, Nathalia joined back up with John. The redhead stepped into the reach of the Gamer’s arm and so he quickly put it around her waist. He gave her ass an unashamed squeeze. Simultaneously, he used the technomancy connection to his phone to activate the toys all over the horny dragoness. The buzz was low. The enchantments swallowed the sounds. A slight quiver of the salver Nathalia held her selection of snacks on was all that spoke of what was happening.

John squeezed her ass a little harder. His hand sunk into the pillowy meat. It was a wonderful distraction while he had a vapid discussion about harvests and fermentation methods. He could scarcely even be bothered to acknowledge the two faces he was talking to as people. Well, one face he was talking to. The friend came with his daughter, who was standing beside her father with an annoyed expression.

The Gamer laughed at a stupid joke. He only needed 5% of his attention to follow the conversation. The rest lay firmly in enjoying the fact that he was kneading Nathalia’s ass. It was a shameless power trip to do so in front of such important company. None of them knew that the depravity went even deeper beneath the clothes. ‘How wet might she be by now?’ John asked and glanced over to Nathalia.

There was a slight glassiness to the redhead’s eyes. She hid it decently, continuing her enjoyment of the varied snacks while pretending she had an investment in the talk. The salver was about halfway empty. Then, the salver was flung upwards.

The fruit treats smacked against Nathalia’s face, then followed the tray on its descent. The metal disk hit the ground with its edge and proceeded to loudly roll and bounce. By the time it finally came to a rest, the entire room was silent.

“Jin!” the father exclaimed in shock.

“Oh, whatever!” The daughter rolled her eyes. Suddenly she became worthy of attention. Green eyes, black hair, an attractive face and balanced curves. She could have been a model, even among Abyssals.

The slight she had just delivered allowed John to risk his own. He activated the Passive Observe, to get the Level of these people if nothing else. Xi’s anti-scrying measure blocked the attempt outright. The father and daughter resisted as well, but John put an active measure right after. They had insulted his woman, he did not care about what they thought of him after this.

’78 and 202,’ the Gamer read. An impressive and a truly impressive level, by objective standards. ‘Another member of the Generation of Monsters… Alas, the follies of youth.’

“Do I have to just stand here and watch this fossil chew?” Jin declared and gestured at Nathalia, who picked a piece of sticky fruit from her face.

Xi took two hurried steps backwards.

“Seriously, who do you think you are?” the woman wanted to know. “’Great and terrible Nathalia’, they said, ‘Flame of Destruction’, they said. All I see is a washed-up loser bimbo.” The little fruit between the goddess’ fingers caught alight.

“JIN!” The father finally found his voice again and pulled at his daughter’s wrist. He bowed his head, a drop of nervous sweat on his brow. Looking at John, he said, “Please, forgive this slight.”

“Why are you apologizing to me?” the Gamer asked in a frosty tone.

The daughter refused to realize the danger she was in. “What, you think we should take to the armca-“

The smug stream of words came to a rattling end. Jin looked down at her collar to find four obsidian fingers had hooked behind her collarbones. The claws took hold of the edge of her ribcage as if it was an unwieldy bit of furniture.

The air around Nathalia shimmered with heat while she raised the woman up into the air. Rapidly, the temperature rose. The grooves in her swung horns began to glow like molten rock under the surface of a volcanic pool. A web of the same aesthetic surfaced on her caramel skin, covering her in place of the dress that burned away rapidly.

“P-ple-“ the father began to stammer, only to be backhanded through a wall.

Nathalia pulled her arm back, then threw the daughter after her parent. Sashaying with allure granted to her by her nature, the dragoness then marched towards the hole she had made. Anything within a few metres around her caught alight from her presence alone. All of that were mere embers to the fury on the goddess’ face.

“Stop her!” Xi half-ordered, half-pleaded.

“There are matters beyond my power,” John stated and he meant it. If he had intervened here, Nathalia would have listened to him, but it would not have been good for their relationship. “It appears your people have gotten a little bit too comfortable around the Flame of Destruction, prime minister. Perhaps a slight burn will be a healthy reminder?”

John did not wait for a response, instead following the dragoness outside. He would not intervene in her reminding people on who she was, but he would clean up the mess.

“Oh, is this ‘hag’ too much for you, mortal?!”

Nathalia’s outraged voice greeted the Gamer. He was only the first one to step outside, closely followed by practically all attendants of the gathering. The scene before them was not pretty. The left half of the father’s face had been ripped open by the dragoness’ razor sharp claws. Somehow, that put him in a worse state than his daughter. The hole carved into Jin’s neck by Nathalia’s fingers was healing, the flesh of the level 200 individual flowing back together like wax.

“Not even close,” Jin growled and began to charge.

Nathalia waited until the insulting woman entered her range, then slammed her knee into Jin’s stomach. There was no competition between them. The Chinese lady was flung back like a sandbag in Smash Bros. She caught herself after breaking down another wall. A hole in her stomach healed quickly.

Observe had called her a Fleshcrafter. Given the name and sight, John guessed that this was a variety of blood magic a few echelons below what Eliana could do. “I hope she gets the message soon,” the Gamer spoke his thoughts out loud.

Guards streamed into the open area quickly. They were either extremely disciplined or extremely foolish, aiming bronze swords at Nathalia. Blades gleamed as energy was channelled through them. Arcane rays cut through the air.

The goddess of volcanoes placed her foot back down with a harsh stomp. The ground beneath her rippled and burst open, creating a geyser of fire and molten rock. It covered Nathalia herself, then continued to spread outwards, tearing and scorching the house, breaking down walls, and swallowing up the guards.

During all of that, John observed Xi. The prime minister was intensely focused on the battle and all of that focus manifested only in him dodging a singular drop of lava that splattered his way. “Get her under control!” Xi now demanded.

‘Concerned only for himself,’ the Gamer thought. “I have no need to get her under control,” he reiterated.

The sea of flames before them ebbed away revealing the multitude of guards and Jin herself in draconic claws shaped from the molten rock. They cooled with unnatural swiftness, and had been cooler than molten rock usually was to begin with. Had Nathalia wished to turn them all into ash and dust, they already would have been shadows on the pavement.

The dragoness stood ankle deep in a pool of incandescent earth and bubbling obsidian. Her wings were molten membranes of fire and ****. Her tail was a segmented whip of volcanic glass. Her claws were black razors. The great orange glow between shattered scales betrayed how easily this human vessel could break into the form of the true divine monster beneath. On the goddess’ face was fury. Her red lips were pulled back into a snarl, revealing canine teeth.

“I am Nathalia, Flame of Destruction, High Dragon, Goddess of Volcanoes and Patron of Fusion!” she roared. Her fingers curled into half-closed fists and the extensions of her will clenched around Jin and guards in turn. “You are unfit even of the shadow of my wings! My observance of your manners is my choice!” Her fingers twitched, then relaxed. The stone hands crumbled in an instant. “I have softened, be thankful for it,” the dragoness hissed. “John, we are leaving!”

The Gamer shrugged towards Xi, then followed after his woman. He almost tripped over a randomly protruding tree branch on the way. He caught himself on a nearby branch, clutched an acorn for a moment, then let it go. After that little incident, he caught up with his Nathalia.

John knew when to lead and when to be led. He kept his distance at first, walking in the trail left by the dripping membranes of her molten wings. Only once they and her tail disappeared, did he fully catch up to her.

“Will this inconvenience you?” she asked, a hint of guilt sneaking in her tone.

“Not in a way that matters. Certainly not in a way that I am not willing to shoulder the burden for.”

“Was it not too violent for you?”

John considered the question in earnest before answering. “I don’t know. Brutality is not how I solve my problems, but I think you got the point across quite well.” He bumped shoulders with her. “Don’t worry about being yourself. Cracking down on those that aim to humiliate you is not one of your sins, lady.”

Nathalia blew fire out of her nose, then took his hand.

Like that, they returned to their quarters.