Chapter 28
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 28
Chapter Title: Surrender
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"Please, please stop!"
The scream bursting from between Queen Helena's lips had twisted from a sharp high pitch into a wet, nasal whine.
Her upper body arched backward, her sweat-drenched nape bending like a drawn bow. The creak of the chair's backrest came through the magic crystal orb.
The thin silk dress had long lost its function as clothing, clinging transparently to her skin in a tangle of sweat and heat.
The reddish hue of her erect nipples shone clearly through the white fabric, and her heaving chest bore full witness to the agonizing pleasure she was enduring.
The mana waves pulsing from the orb beneath my palm throbbed wildly in sync with Helena's heartbeat.
The [Fusion]ed [Delicate Touch] went beyond mere tactile transmission, firing vivid feedback straight into my brain as if it were scraping every single one of her nerve endings directly.
"So, Emperor's confinement and the Black Forest. Will you accept?"
I raised my chained torso and asked in a low voice.
My words, infused with the power of [Persuasion (Lv.2)], rode the orb's resonance and slithered stickily into Helena's ears.
Helena shook her head violently. Her sweat-soaked red hair whipped like a lash against her cheeks.
"No! Absolutely not!"
She gripped the desk with white-knuckled hands, holding on for dear life. Her grip was so fierce her nails turned pale.
Her reason had half-melted away, but the pride of a queen and the final line she must hold as Roselia's monarch barely kept her tethered.
It was the humiliation of accepting that shitheap called the Black Forest, and above all, the stubborn refusal to admit her emotions were being toyed with by this man.
I clicked my tongue. Tough woman.
This wouldn't do. I needed a decisive blow to snap her final line of resistance. Words and caresses weren't enough. Something more primal, more destructive.
The emperor's instinct flashed through my mind.
Without removing my chained hands from the orb, I thrust my hips forward.
My pants already sagging to my ankles, my dangling member hovered tantalizingly close to the orb's smooth curve. It reared up toward the center of the screen.
Helena's pupils on the screen shook like there was an earthquake. Her gaze shifted from my fingers to my lower half.
"Take a good look."
I snapped my hips, bringing the tip right up against the orb's surface.
Swish.
"Ah, no. Not that. Never!"
Helena screamed and recoiled behind her chair. The chair legs scraped the floor with a screech.
Her hands flailed in the air, a desperate struggle as if warding off some invisible colossal beast lunging at her.
The worst-case scenario was already playing out in her head.
If just his touch melted her entire body like this, what if that massive, grotesque thing invaded her most intimate depths through the mana link?
It defied all magical principles, and she had no idea if he was really up to some trick, but her senses overrode her reason.
I knew intuitively that the [Fusion]ed [Delicate Touch] skill was limited to my hands and didn't apply to my dick.
But Helena didn't know that. To her, this orb was already a tool of fear and pleasure beyond common sense.
This was a bluff. But a perfect threat exploiting her terror.
"Queen Helena."
I rattled my chains and gripped the orb with both hands.
As if seizing her hips and spreading them. Then, I slowly, oh so slowly, mimed thrusting my hips forward, pressing my member toward the orb.
"I'm putting it in."
"Kyaaaaack!"
A bloodcurdling shriek tore from Helena's mouth.
She clamped her legs together and twisted her body. The sweat-soaked, transparent dress rode up between her thighs.
In her imagination, a hot, rigid mass was already forcing its way into her.
The bloating fullness as if her flesh were tearing, the frictional scrape against her inner walls, the overwhelming presence stuffing her deepest core.
Phantom pain and phantom pleasure. The false sensations her brain conjured dominated her more fiercely than reality.
"I get it! I got it!"
She cried out, voice breaking into sobs.
"I'll take it! The Black Forest, whatever! Just please, get that away! Don't do it!"
She collapsed face-down on the desk, shoulders heaving. Surrender. A complete and utter declaration of miserable defeat.
I pulled my hips back with a predatory smile tugging at my lips.
"You should've done that from the start."
The orb's surface retained a strange aftertaste, mingled with my body heat and Helena's fear. I hiked up my pants and tapped the screen with my chained hands.
"Keep your promise. Cede the Black Forest, and confine Emperor Batanias. Send official documents to Duke Karls by today."
Helena didn't reply. She just nodded raggedly, gasping for breath.
Her flushed ears and nape, and the white dress hem plastered sweatily to her back, spoke volumes of her shame.
Pop.
I severed the connection, and the orb's glow faded.
Silence returned to the room.
I slumped to the floor, panting heavily. Cold sweat trickled down my back. Success. I'd averted war and carved out a path to survival.
And I'd driven an indelible wedge into Queen Helena's heart.
Creeeak.
The door opened, and Duke Karls entered.
"Done? How'd it go?"
Karls's voice was low and subdued, but he couldn't hide the sharp anxiety beneath. He leaned against the doorframe, arms crossed, trying to read the room's air.
I sat on the floor, heaving ragged breaths. Cold sweat soaked into my prison garb from behind.
The weight of the chains around my neck felt like a thousand tons. My whole body went limp; I could barely twitch a finger.
"Queen Helena will send a letter. The terms come from her."
My voice was hoarse. My throat was parched.
Karls furrowed his brow. He seemed suspicious I wasn't spilling details but didn't press.
The room hung heavy with the orb's lingering mana and what felt like echoes of Helena's screams. That weight sealed his lips.
"Let's go down. Batanias."
He said curtly and turned.
I hauled my staggering body up. My knees buckled; I had to brace against the floor. The chains jingled, reminding me of my pathetic state.
Sunlight poured blindingly into the corridor. The sky outside the windows was cloudless and clear.
Somewhere beneath that sky, Queen Helena was withdrawing her red legions, grinding her teeth. She'd be writhing between shame and relief, mulling my terms.
Karls led the way. His back still looked straight and firm, but his shoulders bore an invisible burden.
'Black Forest.'
I muttered inwardly. That would be my new stage. Better than prison, at least. I could see the sky, feel the wind.
And that forest had it...
I said nothing descending the stairs. Karls stayed silent too. Only the clank of chains and bootsteps echoed in the hall.
'Yeah... better than the underground dungeon.'
I murmured quietly.
[SYSTEM Notification: World Branch Point Confirmed]
[You have changed the world.]
[They try their best to ignore it, but the extinction of the imperial bloodline is a core trigger for the destruction scenario.]
[You have survived 10 days longer than your predetermined fate.]
[Calculating causality... Your 10 days of survival have delayed the world's destruction by at least 1 year.]
[Thank you.]
[We send praise for your achievement.]
[We restore all your karma.]
The midnight bell tolled, slicing through the dank air of the underground dungeon.
Dong, dong, dong.
The sound rose heavy and muffled, like from the depths of a deep well. A water droplet from the ceiling couldn't withstand the vibration and plopped onto my crown.
The cold sensation brought a chill stabbing into my skull.
I huddled against the wall, knees drawn to my chest. The flickering blue glow of the mana stone danced dizzily at the edge of my vision.
The bell tones dulled through thick earth and stone walls, but the vibrations survived, crawling up my soles into my body.
The boundary between one dying day and a newborn one. A rift tore through the air in that gap.
Crackle.
Blue phosphorescence flooded my retinas. Unlike the orange torchlight, this was a cold, artificial rectangular glow.
A system alert window. Unlike its usual dry notice, each character pulsed like a heartbeat, stimulating my optic nerve.
I stared blankly at the glowing text. Blinking left afterimages blurring my sight.
Breath caught in my throat. All I'd done—wagging my tail before Helena, groping Patrol Captain Adella's ass in desperation—just to survive—had extended not just my life, but the world's?
But the next line froze my thoughts.
My eyes rubbed; was I hallucinating? The system expressing thanks? A mechanical algorithm?
Or some will overseeing this world intervening. The text persisted, glowing blue, mocking my doubt.
Whumm-
The window vibrated. The number [10] at the bottom blurred.
Like ink in water, it dissolved, replaced by a rapidly counting new figure.
11... 25... 78...
Each increment weighed heavier on my chest. Not mere digits.
It felt like the memories of my 98 deaths—the horrors piling mass into my soul's vault.
The chill of decapitation, the burning of poison, the terror of cardiac arrest.
And the count stopped.
Save Points: 10 → 99
I gaped at the number. Breath halted.
Karma. Save Points were karma.
Then what did 99 mean? Just a system bonus? Or...
A memory flashed. My grueling days wrestling this damned game, Atria Continent Chronicles.
Despite its infamous impossibility, nights of obsession, dozens, hundreds of attempts.
Pulling all-nighters for ending credits, smashing the keyboard at 'Game Over' screens.
"Did I... clear the game ninety-nine times?"
Yes, 99 was the count of endings I'd seen—bad ends, runaway ends, whatever.