Metra’s leg was bouncing up and down, up and down. She was twitching left to right, left to right. She was fidgeting with a pen, round and round, round and round.

“Fuck!” The sudden exclamation spooked Lee, who had been watching with all of the fascination of a young deer. “Urgh,” the First of Wrath kept exclaiming her annoyance. “I’m a weapon, my king, not a slave girl to be displayed as a trophy piece.”

“I am pretty sure you’ll disagree with that come night,” the Gamer answered and scrolled to the next page. “My other weapon isn’t this moody.”

Inkaryl did indeed lay calmly at the table. After using it in the Liakan fight, John had pulled it back to his Creator Puppet. There was no greater reason for it. Inkaryl could have been left anywhere and still would have answered his call. It had been capable of breaking through the distance between a Kingdom and Earth, however far that was. That had been before the upgrade to Mythic as well.

In truth, John still did not understand the character of the weapon in full. He likely never would either. These minds were alien.

Metra was not, at least not for the most part. “Should have poured that ichor over my halberd.” Rex Magnar revved in response, like a chainsaw made out of electric guitar notes.

“You’re not usually quite this battle hungry.” John turned another page. The electronic document listed what was currently going on back at home. Emrik had moved to properly stir things up. A very clear message was being sent by the emerging elite of Fusion: if you will not listen, then we will make it impossible for you to go abroad.

So far, their efforts were fleeting at worst. There was rhetoric, yes, but only in closed rooms that they let him see and a few that he did not. John had plenty of loyalists scattered about. More importantly, he still had the backing of the public at large. His approval rating had not gone below 90 and only a small minority of the remaining 10% thought he was doing a poor job overall. The elite was unhappy with him, for reasons that were understandable or entitled, rarely both. Being the founder of the nation did invest John with the political capital to shrug that off though.

Not to mention his potential to nuke them from orbit if they launched an actual rebellion.

John was still holding onto his view of being a president, however, and that meant that the people were sovereign and as the people’s representatives he had to give the people in parliament due respect. ‘It’s either that or stop pretending…’ John furrowed his eyebrows at the intrusive thought. ‘Being annoyed is not reason enough to dispense with my principles,’ he cautioned himself.

“This isn’t your everyday violence happening out there, it’s advanced violence,” Metra lamented. “Come on, John.” She stood up and strutted over, flexing her naked muscles as she walked. “Let me at them.”

“You know what? Sure.”

“Huh?” Metra stopped next to him, then bowed down with that tomboyish grin of hers. “You serious?”

The Gamer looked up from the screen to meet her emerald gaze. “Between Zelos and the teleportation by the god-warriors, you being able to tear apart spatial spells will be useful.” John looked to Lee. “Also, I am fairly confident in our security here. However, lay on the downlow until I give you the signal to come in. I’m afraid they’ll band together against us with you on the field.”

“I’m not exactly a master of stealth.”

“You only need to hide from the undead, really. I assume Huitzi, or whoever Huitzi really is, will notice you. It is their Sanctum.” John smirked up at the First of Wrath. “Do not disappoint me.”

“Of course not,” Metra answered and stepped away to find her clothes.

Beatrice turned away from the excel sheet she had been working on. “Question: should I prepare for deployment as well?”

“I think that would put us well and truly in the realm of overkill,” John told her. “I don’t think we are going to get attacked here, but let’s not be entirely unprepared for that case.” In the plane now were himself (the Creator Puppet), Beatrice, Lee, Delicia, and Claire. Three fighters, a crafter, and the strongest Fateweaver on planet Earth. Not a soft target by any means, not even for someone like Xipe-Totec.

The only worry John had was that they might get stuck in that Sanctum and then… well, he potentially could have to test that theory on what it is like to fight a god in their Sanctum. He had theoretically done it before against Enki, but that was a rather special set of circumstances. He didn’t anticipate a fully released Celestial Devourer saving the day this time around.

Since then, everyone’s punching power had increased tremendously as well. The only reason why John had even approved of this mission was the sheer power they all could bring to bear. By this point, the Gamer would have been confident taking on the Norse pantheon with his harem, demigods and all.

“Alright, so, Metra is out,” Lee reported.

“That means you can stop staring at her and get back to your job,” John joked.

“Urgh…” the brunette looked at the stack of papers on the table. They were various schemata for an improvement on the artifice they had used to trap Liakan the previous night. “Trying to work with Hailey is always such a headache.”

“And now it is your turn to suffer!” Delicia shouted over from her laboratory. Said laboratory was an extradimensional doorway leading into a fairly narrow workplace. “’Howdy, could ya fig’re out how to blend these ‘ere metals for me?’” the shortstack mimicked the accent of the country gal. “’Could ya kindly get me some acid that stops working at a surface exposure of 2 mm?’ Why yes, Hailey, I COULD do that, but do you know how long that takes?!”

“And now I have to figure out how to integrate extra Fateweaving enchantments between all of these cables!” Lee joined the chorus. “And Lorelei isn’t even here to help!”

John followed the crafters’ lament with vague amusement. As the other Latebloomer in their group of misfits, he could not quite understand their plight. Delicia was gifted in her field, as was Scarlett, and Lee had taken to crafting with moderate success, even if her true talent remained with Fateweaving itself.

Hailey was a true prodigy amongst prodigies and the things she put together were enigmatic even to the people she built it with. It must have been frustrating to be part of creating something that just worked against all expectations. That being said, his women were too mature to let that or Hailey’s weird request get to them.

As Lee got to her homework, John’s mind turned to Lorelei. He hadn’t heard much from the seer in recent days. Of course they had their exchanges. John needed at least a daily update to dissuade his paranoia from driving him to do anything reckless. Those aside, communication had been scarce. There just wasn’t much to report and Lorelei wasn’t the kind of woman that wanted regular updates.

“Masteeeeer,” Claire whined and poked her head into the room. She stopped shy of a sunray falling in through a window. “Come over here?”

John looked around the rest of his current companions and decided to shut the windows instead. With Metra out, there was no one around that had a preference for natural light.

Claire immediately danced her way across, before theatrically falling into his arms. “Ah… it’s just not quite the same…” she mumbled and looked up at him. “May I, too, enter the fray? May I, too, cull your enemies? May I, too, bask in your presence?”

“No, you are definitely more useful here,” John said. “You want to be useful to me, right?”

The question had her nodding eagerly and that was that topic covered. John pulled her back with him towards his seat. Had he not still been in a potential combat situation over with his real body, he would have done more than just cuddle her. Claire read the entries into his list of political problems with him. “You should throw me at this issue once we are back,” she suggested.

“I want them appeased, not found dead in a ditch.” The Gamer used his off-hand to feel the smooth skin of Claire’s shoulder.

“I can be persuasive in ways beyond violence and mind control,” Claire assured. “I also know blackmail, extortion, and pouting.”

“Never do that to anyone, it’s too cruel.” John cringed in defeat when she batted her eyelashes at him. “Ah, my heart! Fine, I’ll let you try and negotiate with some people!” It wasn’t a difficult call to make in earnest. Claire’s Charisma was absurdly high, she could convince a few people. Plus, she could use some extra tasks. Between her farm and her private wildlife reservation, she had plenty to keep her busy between chores, but variation never hurt anyone.

John finally reached the end of the document and then put it aside. “An opening,” Claire cooed and straddled his hips. The vampire maid pressed her red lips on his and kept him pinned on the lounger. Not their usual dynamic, but John wasn’t about to complain.

“I want to play League,” Lee whined.

“We took this trip so you can beat your addiction,” John told her.

“Really? I thought we did it so we could feed Momo’s discovery hunger.”

John tilted his head and gave the young Fateweaver a broad smirk. “No, this is an intervention. I planted all of these ruins ahead of time just so we’d have a reason to stay longer.”

“Worst thing is that I almost believe that you’d do such a thing, dude.” Lee leaned back in her chair, deliberately ignoring the stacks of unsolved formulas she still had to check out. “Problem is how long we’ve been here, bit much for a rehab trip.”

“A month isn’t that long… and yet it is very long,” John responded. His mind turned back to other times, when every month had been a drawn out set of days chopped up by school schedules. It had already been over two years since he had left that world. It had only been two years since he left that world. “Sometimes I forget how young I am,” the Gamer mumbled.

“Yeah, practically a chicken,” Delicia agreed and stepped out of her laboratory. The shortstack made a demanding gesture. Claire shuffled to the side so the alchemist in all of her width and roundness fit on top of John with her. “Young, inexperienced, stupid, all of the things,” she listed with a bratty smirk.

“I’m only the first of those things.” John took hold of Delicia’s plump ass. “Every moment is tripled for me. I am gaining life experience at an accelerated rate.”

“All you gain is more memories of touching butts and pounding subs,” Delicia countered. “Not really life experience.”

“Quite the contrary, that’s the only kind of experience that matters.”

“Aaaaaaaahhhhhhhh!” Lee shouted in the background. “How am I supposed to work with all of this banter around?”

“Take a break,” John encouraged her.

“Really?”

“Is that going to be ready in the next few days?” He used his chin to point at the table. Lee shook her head. “Then it’s not going to be relevant for the outcome of this expedition. We’re going to reach the central temple in the next 4 days. Once we’re there, all of this will come to a head.”

“Which means we can leave this horrid climate,” Lee cheered.

“You’ve been outside like four times during this entire trip,” Delicia chimed in. “You’re more sun averse than the literal vampire. Isn’t that embarrassing to you? Houseplants like you need to catch some rays!”

“Houseplant? Really?”

“What else should I call you? For a domesticated animal you move too little.”

“I – move – plenty!” Lee slapped her toned midriff with every word she spoke. “If you weren’t made out of metal, you would bloat like one of those water absorbing pebble thingies.”

“I always had a good diet, unlike you! After League, we should get you to quit pizza and masturbating.”

“I can do the masturbating; I refuse on the pizza!”

“Statement: I am very doubtful,” Beatrice weighed in. “Would you like pizza today?”

“””Yes, please,””” Lee, Delicia, and Claire answered in unison.

“Why do you say that, you’re our cook,” John asked of the vampire maid. They did not let Beatrice be the main chef if ever they could avoid it.

“Just being funny,” the vampire maid answered and rubbed up against John some more. “I suppose I should get right on that.”

John lifted his hand and let Claire escape. The obsessed woman only did so after kissing and sniffing him some more. It was a mild delivery of her love, relatively speaking. Between this being the one of his doubles that could be distinguished by scent and such and her recent ability to keep cuddling him for most of the day, Claire had her ‘Master-batteries’ maxed out most of the time.

While Claire went into the kitchen, John turned his attention to the Fateweaver that took her place. Lee jumped on top of him like a tomboy and then blushed like a shy clutz, a combination that just made her way too kissable. Delicia shared that conviction, causing them to engage in a three-way make out session.

“Any insights on this Eternal Sanctum?” John asked, when the mood was starting to calm down.

“One of those freaky Illusion Barriers that I can explain in theory but couldn’t replicate in praxis,” Lee said. “Illusion Barriers don’t usually layer, you already know that. Despite that, we got stuff like the Guild Hall, which sits inside the Hudson Barrier, which has in it the I.D. Gates and the Intermediary Barriers that I can open in that.”

“Yeah, but that is a stack,” John said. “This feels more like adjacencies. Nia also said that we’re in the shadow of something.”

“Not an Illusion Barrier, otherwise you and I would have felt that,” Lee said.

“I’m thinking it’s more like the Death Zone, where we have one fairly large barrier at the centre and a sphere of influence around it that allows for people to be pulled in.”

“I could tell you more if I was, ya know, in it?” Lee poked his pectoral as if it was the most interesting thing she had ever seen. “Don’t know how useful it is to speculate. It’s obviously a Sanctum, says so in the title, so regular rules don’t exactly apply. Might be something Remus left behind.”

That was a fairly solid theory.