The First Harem Tournament Finale – The Point Made

“I surrender,” Lu Zhi declared.

The words came at the end of a prolonged exchange of blows, certainly enough to woo the crowd into a sense of awe.

‘A bit of a disappointing end,’ John thought, but shrugged to himself. Letting Lulu enter the tournament had naturally brought about this consequence. It was best for everyone that she surrendered there. It made her seem magnanimous and allowed them to keep their heads up high. The broader point of the tournament had been made.

The Imperial Choir was strong – very strong.

John remained at the top of his balcony as Beatrice returned to him and Lu Zhi went to her segment in the greater arena. “That concludes the First Harem Tournament,” he announced to the crowd. “Perhaps the only one, by virtue of the next one getting a more creative name.”

The joke got some chuckles out of the people, barely loud enough to reach John where he was standing. His gaze drifted over the scarcely populated coliseum. More people had elected to come for the finale, likely due to the shortness of the event, but it was still far from full capacity.

‘Should I…? I suppose I might as well give some vague hints…’ “Competition between nations is an ugly but necessary thing. Since the first tribes warred over access over the best fruit trees, humanity has wrestled with itself. Magic expanded this beyond just humans and nations integrated other species as best as could be done.

“The Great Re-Alignment of the Abyss is still rippling across the world. The true extent of its influences cannot be predicted for they are numerous and unprecedented. This tournament…” he gestured towards the field below, “…was a reminder. Even in these uncertain times, we are strong and we will protect you with this might. I have my ambitions, but be assured that Fusion is and will be my foremost priority.”

A wave of cheers, ending abruptly when John raised his hand.

“I won’t take anymore of your time. Like this event, this speech is spontaneous. All I want you to do is to remember my first and most essential decree as Emperor of Fusion: Survive. Prepare for tough times. It is only prudent. History is not done having its way with us yet.”

On that note, John stepped away from the balcony.

_____________________________________________________________________________

“Any reason ya didn’t just say: ‘Hey, in early March, some serious stuff is gonna happen’?” Jane investigated.

“Well, for one, I don’t use ‘gonna’ in my sentences. I respect my tongue too much.”

“Pfffft.” The unflattering noise was swiftly accompanied by an elbow jab to her husband’s ribs. “I know where that tongue goes.”

“Only respectable places!” the Gamer insisted. “My tongue ventures to temples of the utmost cleanliness and parts the lips of only the most brilliant speakers.”

“…I get you’re trying to talk about pussies with the temples, but the metaphor is weird. Why ‘utmost cleanliness’?”

“Because I do appreciate that you all keep clean shaven,” John answered. “Even if the alchemical soaps make it a non-issue to stay that way, my appreciation remains true.” He squeezed Jane’s perfect butt, just because he could. “Now that the tournament is over-”

“WAIT A SECOND!” Momo suddenly shouted. “You… pervert!”

“Hm?” John looked over his shoulder, at the angry and thoroughly aroused fairy among the crowd of women walking behind him. The cause for her glare was made apparent by the women flanking her. Delicia grinned with a degree of embarrassment while Claire pouted slightly. “Ah, did the hypnosis just wear off?”

“Yes, it did. Yes, it is gone. Yes, it is too early,” Claire lamented. “You set the lifting condition unwisely, Master.”

“Maybe,” he admitted, “but isn’t the frustration of not having been taken for a ride satisfying in and of itself for you hypno-sluts?”

“I wouldn’t know anything about that! Mwahahaha!” Delicia laughed as if she was the victor of the entire tournament. The other two remained quiet, thighs clenching on every step. Three days of sexual taboos were suddenly gone and the unfulfilled cravings remained.

John had barely managed to sit down on the Couch when both fairy and vampire attempted to get on top of him. It was a rare case of two Harmonia actively and aggressively wrestling for the ‘privilege’ of his dick.

“I have seniority!” Momo hissed.

“You do not appreciate him as much as I do.”

“Yuh-uh, I do! I am just being sassy about it!”

“And I am always honest!”

“Creepily honest!”

“Master likes it!”

“Master likes everything with a big ass!”

‘I cannot lie, I like this,’ the Gamer thought. He was so blessed with a harmonious harem that watching two of his women get in a small fight for his attention scratched a rarely stimulated part of his ego. Alas, that part was also rather small. If it hadn’t been, the Imperial Choir would have been a lot more competitive and a lot less pleasant for its members. “Stop!” he intervened when Claire put Momo in a headlock. “I’m going to think a number and whichever of you two guesses closer will-“

“”69,”” the two stated in unison.

“…Okay, I will think a differe-“

“”34.””

“…Just play Rock-Paper-Scissors.”

A quick throwing of hands later, Claire triumphantly pushed Momo into the empty spot next to John. “…Fuck…” the fairy muttered as she watched her fellow maid’s pale ass descend on their Master’s cock. Claire’s sphincter readily stretched around his member as she impaled herself on his length.

“Patience,” John cooed to Momo, then focused on Claire. He grabbed her by the hips and gently thrust upwards. Once her body had grown reacquainted with his girth, the thrusts turned rough and hard. Before long, the pleasure was too much for Claire and he fully took over, taking her from behind over the low table.

Fifteen minutes later, Claire and Momo rested side to side over the edge of the table. Fat, white asses displayed in full glory their gaping backdoors, each filled with the load necessary to satisfy a Harmonia.

John clapped his hands, a sound that grabbed everyone’s attention. The Imperial Choir, scattered around the enormous living room, turned quiet. “Before Lyly and Lulu have to leave, how about I distribute the two Class Levels I have saved up?” he suggested.

That had universal agreement. The two maids picked themselves up, but only to change from being well-fucked displays to being eager cock-cleaners. After the anal craving, it was the oral fascination that required satisfaction. Only the typical wipe-down following anal sex delayed the application of their tongues and pillowy lips.

John first checked on his Character Sheet.

He had not been entirely idle while the tournament was going on. Using the evenings to grind out a few Class Challenges was easily done and he had maxed out the Summon Hero Skill while he was at it. He was tempted to buy an SEP to see if he could evolve it, but it was no urgent matter. As a Skill to summon an elite unit, it worked very well as it was.

“One of the Class Levels goes to Monster Girl Creator,” John said. That was a no-brainer. It was at Level 9 and maxing that one out promised great rewards. For the other level, John was split between Master of Magic or Summoner. The latter was likely to be more useful, but Free Casting upgrades enticed the soul.

He decided to treat himself.

“The other one goes to Master of Magic,” he continued. “Let’s do that one first, since it’ll be less exciting.”

John just ignored Efficiency. He wasn’t investing in Free Casting to make it his go-to combat application, he was doing it for utility and to flex on his enemies. Mana was the resource he almost had the most of anyway, much as the system tried to keep him from reaching the point of never having to worry about it.

So, it was between Precision Laser and New School.

By every reasonable metric, Precision Laser was the better choice. Arcana Ray was his go-to damage dealing spell and being able to use it, Blast Rays in particular, with a greater degree of control was worth a lot. Pushing the damage further up was quite valuable. Simultaneously, John didn’t exactly have problems dealing absurd amounts of damage, if given the opportunity. What this did was add another tool to an already well-stocked box. Good, but not necessary.

Adding an extra element to Free Casting was satisfying… and it did actually give him the chance to do something that had quite a lot of value.

Since this was his personal satisfaction Class, John pressed the button without asking anyone else, then pressed ‘Life’ on the menu that followed.

“My logic here,” he explained as he conjured a gently glowing, green sphere in the palm of his hand, “is that I can now heal people.”

“Bullshit!” Lee exclaimed.

“For once, this is just minor bullshit,” John answered and stopped pouring mana into healing nothing. “Also, it’s just theoretical. I actually need to learn this, and even when I do, between the low complexity of my Free Casting and its cost, I’ll be rather bad at it compared to Gnome and absolutely suck compared to Undine.” He smirked and wiggled his fingers. “Still nice to have the option.”

Those choices were quite impactful in a number of ways, though John found this to be among the easiest Perk 10 choices so far, if not the easiest altogether. Monster Girl Perfection was pretty redundant. The ‘Towards Infinity, together’ Perk from the Lover Class already applied all Stat Bonuses he bought to ALL his haremettes. There was a future where he had invested so much that buying Stats separately for them became mathematically superior, but that was so far away even he couldn’t justify playing for the late game scaling.

Age of Monster Girls spoke to his horny side. Filling the world with more hot monster girls was just instinctively nice. However, as a reasonable man, he could not do this. It was way too intrusive on the broader population. The way alchemy was going, it wouldn’t be long before men could take some kind of pill that locked all their sperm production to all X or all Y chromosomes anyway, so why force this choice on everyone?

John also didn’t know what social consequences would spring up from having such a gender imbalance. If the shoe was on the other foot, a 66% male society would probably turn extremely martial and warlike in an attempt to, plainly, abduct an adequate amount of women from surrounding nations. 66% female was unlikely to go full harpy to get men drawn in, but there was doubtlessly going to be negative side effects to all of this.

That narrowed the choice down to Progenitor Puppet which was really solid as an option. Combining even diminished Monster Girl Ascension Perks would make for some interesting outcomes. It was too bad the Evolution Surge Perks had been deemed too powerful by the system to be copied. John understood, but it was still saddening.

“Well, unless anyone wants to convince me that we NEED one of the other two, I think the choice is obvious?” John put the question to the rest of the crowd. No disagreements. “How are you two doing down there?”

“Remembering how divine Master’s cock tastes,” Momo swooned, a line that could have come straight out of Claire’s mouth. It would have, no doubt, had it not been the vampire’s turn to deepthroat him. “Ah, my Master…” She pressed a kiss on the base of his balls. “…Master…” she kissed the corner of Claire’s stretched lips next. “…My Master….! Love youuuuuuuuu!”

‘Someone is cockdrunk,’ John thought, caressing the maid’s head. “I love you too,” he answered with a broad smile. “Let’s see what the Mod and Overclock offer.”

“Oh joy, another way to guarantee having daughters, John drawled, only for the window to flicker. An immediate edit had been made.

That was better. It elevated it from ‘useless’ to ‘almost useless’. John, personally, was still a bit iffy on designing babies, but not all of his women were and he was open to be convinced by their desires. If Nathalia decided she wanted to go and have the whole chromatic and metallic lineup of dragon girls over the next 20 years that was her imperative.

That was… well, it wasn’t useless, it just wasn’t very exciting. It also didn’t help John directly. Not that he was one to keep all of his power to himself – far from it. This was just a bit too external for a capstone Skill to a Master Class. Plus, it was basically just an instant button for something a previous Perk in the same Class had already offered.

John waited for a bit, hoping Gaia would patch this one too. Nothing of the like happened.

“Considering the overall power for this Class, I can’t complain,” he said aloud. “Still, bit of a disappointing end to that journey.” His fingers curled harshly into Momo’s hair, bunching the silky strands into a messy tussle. The fairy maid gasped masochistically as he dragged her to the tip of his cock, shoving her down to continue the job Claire had graciously passed to her.

“No fair!” the vampire maid complained, enviously watching her compatriot be used as a comfort hole.

“Don’t worry, you’ll be next,” John assured her. Raising his gaze, he locked eyes with Lydia, then Lu Zhi. “Either of you want me to pass this knowledge to one of yours?”

“I am in too much of a favour deficit to take such a boon,” Lydia stated, arms crossed.

“If you want to move that needle in your direction, would you move Rex Germaniae’s naval forces to the Atlantic Fuse for me?” John asked. “As a neutrality assurance force, accompanying Fusion’s meagre navy.”

Lydia raised an eyebrow. “What are you scheming?” she wanted to know.

“Honestly? Nothing. This would be a pure observation mission.” GLACK! GLACK! GLACK! John spoke over the aggressive, wet squelches that echoed from Momo’s mouth. “I am genuinely curious what the Horned Rat is cooking over there. I’d be a moron to still believe this is just about resources. Planetary alignments, prophecies, a mathematical prediction, everything points towards March 9th being the day of something big.”

Lydia considered the proposal for a few seconds, then shook her head. “At the current juncture, I consider this inadvisable. As it stands, Romulus will most likely contest the Illuminati presence at the Atlantic Fuse, while you distract Remus and Krieg. Rex Germaniae still owes loyalty to the Apex. You would need to station a rather considerable force on that observation force for me to be comfortable with denying a call to arms, should there be an altercation.”

“Mhm…” John moved some numbers in his head while exchanging the head that gave him head. Claire ecstatically moved along with the yanking and shoving. “No, I can’t split my forces further, so that’s not an option. I’ll already need a big show of force to draw Krieg into the area… and to fend him off if he or Remus try to pull something.”

“Precisely,” Lydia agreed.

“Lulu, how about you?”

“We would appreciate the boon, but like Lydia we find ourselves shamed by the prospect of such shamelessness,” Lu Zhi stated.

“You came to my aid during the Lorylim War.”

“An act already repaid by your assurances that you will aid us in our civil strife,” the Heavenly Jade Empress retorted. “On this, we are even.”

John disagreed emotionally, but objectively she was correct. The Lorylim were a greater, more horrific threat to intervene against than the front forming around Vinh ever could be, but this civil war would last longer and be a much greater political headache. “Then could you accompany an observational force?”

Lu Zhi tapped her chin with her folding fan. “It is a question of speed… the Middle Empire’s current navy is… acceptable.” The Chinese Empress refused to call her nation’s navy poor – which it was compared to its total resources. It was still big enough to outcompete everyone else in the region except the Dangun Clan. “The distance is vast, the days numbered. Two weeks to move a joint military operation to the Atlantic…” She slowly nodded. “A good test to train that lame muscle. We agree.”

“Who is going, then?” John asked his women.

Scarlett hummed. “This has my interest…”

“If I may,” Lorelei raised her voice. “I request you follow current plans and accompany us to the library of Alexandria. Vague visions suggest that it is imperative you are there.”

“Is that so?” Scarlett asked with a raised eyebrow. “I’ll trust you on that, Rel.”

“Then I shall spearhead this venture to the Atlantic Fuse,” Moira declared. “To be so close to the Lady’s presence once more only suits me.”

“I should say that I will personally lead this expedition,” Lu Zhi added. “Another excuse to dodge Vinh and other annoying diplomats.”

“I will also go,” Lyndell spoke quietly.

“Are you sure?” John asked.

“I can act as a deterrent.”

“Then I will act as our veil,” Nightingale added.

Momo managed to get out of her cockdrunk state for long enough to ask: “Should we send a goddess out?”

“Not like Krieg can double condemn us,” John said. “Plus this is genuinely just an observation mission.”

The fairy maid listened to his explanation, then nodded and got right back to showering his testicles in kisses.

“Well, that seems to be-“ John began and stopped suddenly when another window opened up in front of him.

That was… interesting. “Well, looks like my summons are about to get nerfed.”

“Us?! AGAIN?!” Salamander asked, immediately outraged.

“No… Well, I don’t think so. I think this is more about the outrageous fact that I don’t have a cap on how many Sprites or Heroes I can summon. I expect a nerf on that, because it’s honestly broken as hell.” John sucked on the inside on his cheek. He was temporarily distracted enough that he couldn’t even enjoy Claire’s throat. “That 35% decrease in drop chances before we go Raiding stings…”

Gaia was quite attentive today, John appreciated that. The choice was a bit of an annoying one. No levels for 14 days, including a grinding session. That was going to cost him something around 20 to 30 Level Ups. On the flipside, what he wanted more than anything right now was a new spear for Beatrice and some extra swords for Aclysia. With a heavy sigh, and after discussing it with the Imperial Choir, he pressed the ‘Yes’ button. At this juncture, levels weren’t that important.

At least he had an excuse to take it easy for a bit.