bluedragonauthor

The Blue Dragon: Chapter 33

Added 2024-10-15 19:03:53 +0000 UTC

-- CHAPTER 33: TINGTGTWYT --

a.k.a. This is not going to go the way you think

****

“C’mon, Waterboy. Hit me!” Rae challenged, both hands up and beckoning before she once again resumed a battle stance.

“I can’t. It’s no use.” Standing about ten feet away from her and unable to generate a spinning water ball of any significance, I sighed and dropped my hands to my sides, feeling defeated. “I can use sex-energy to power my elemental abilities just fine, but I still can’t create any offensive weapons. I just can’t.”

“Maybe you need to sodomize me again,” Hannah offered from her spot still in the hot spring. “Worth a shot?”

“I wouldn’t mind,” Rae agreed, her eyes lingering a few extra beats on Hannah’s bare breasts bobbing on the surface of the water before she blinked and blushed.

Dong pointed two finger pistols at Rae and grinned. “You wouldn’t mind Aksel sodomizing you?”

“What? N-no! I-I meant I wouldn’t mind watching Aksel sodomi--” She clapped both hands over her eyes. “Forget I said anything.”

I sighed and turned to walk back towards Hannah, shrugging as I slipped back into the warm waters. The three of us were alone now (well four, including Dong). After collapsing into the pool post-orgasm, it had taken a minute for me and Hannah to disentangle ourselves, wipe water from our faces, and make ourselves presentable. Well, nothing would make us presentable given that Hannah was topless and I was completely naked, but it had still taken a minute for us to regain our composure and catch our breaths after that epic, floating, anal lovemaking. Meanwhile, Magdalena had muttered some excuses and then left, so only Rae walked into the pavilion and then took a seat on the deck beside us.

While Hannah and I had stayed in the onsen to get jiggy with it, Rae had gone with Tianshi to further deconstruct the battle at the Arashiyama Bamboo Grove, send ops to gather intel on Shen Wu’s potential whereabouts now that we’d been informed he was in Kyoto, and gameplan how to rescue Ziyi now that they knew how critical she was to the mission’s success. Rae was then returning to share that information with us when she discovered Magdalena already standing at the doorway fingerbanging herself while watching me walk around the pool with Hannah’s ass impaled on my dick. And both of them had watched the column of water rising to lift us up into the air and the sphere of glowing, streaking water surrounding us right until the moment Hannah and I climaxed and then collapsed.

It had been Rae’s idea to immediately test my elemental abilities while I was still charged up with sex-energy. One could probably argue that I performed better tonight than I had that day in the Venice lagoon, given that I could manipulate the water to create waves, shields, and even a small vortex on command. But like I said: I still couldn’t produce any offensive weapons.

“You have to believe,” Hannah insisted as I slid alongside her. The beautiful babe gave me a quick kiss as she slid into my lap sideways and wrapped her arms around my neck.

The position pressed her bare boobs against my cheek, which made me smile. It’s difficult for a man to feel sorry for himself when he’s got such awesome bare boobs pressed against his cheek. “I’m trying,” I told her. “I’m trying.”

“But you still believe Tianshi’s theory that you need to have sex with a supernatural in order to power your offensive abilities.”

“It’s not a theory. It’s true.”

Hannah rubbed my head. “Just because one way works doesn’t mean it’s the only way.”

“Hannah…” I sighed, stroking her spine. “I know you mean well, but there’s just too much evidence that this is how it needs to be done.”

“I’ll do it,” Rae muttered almost beneath her breath, which made both me and Hannah look over at her in surprise. The blue-haired huli jing sighed, shook her head glumly, and stared straight down at the ground in front of her, repeating, “I’ll do it. For the sake of the mission, I’ll take one for the team.”

“Finally!” Dong exclaimed quite happily while I simultaneously insisted, “Rae, no.”

For a second, both Dong and I looked at each other. Then Dong began, “Your noble sacrifice will be--” while I simultaneously insisted, “You don’t have-- Will you shut up!”

That last part was for Dong, who stuck his long, slithery tongue out and shot back, “No, you shut up! She’s offering you virgin pussy!”

“No. Just no.” I turned back to Rae. “You don’t have to do this.”

“Yes I do.” She picked her head up, electric blue energy briefly flashing in her dark brown eyes. “Shen Wu is out there. We need you at full strength. If the difference between victory and defeat is me spreading my legs and letting you plug yourself into me, then I’ll spread--”

“NO,” I insisted. “Just no. I won’t let you do that. -I- wouldn’t go through with it.”

Rae snorted. “Sure you would.”

“No, I wouldn’t. I know you’re a lesbian and I respect you too much to ever go there. I wouldn’t even be able to get hard.”

Rae frowned and slid her hands up and down her sides. “You’re saying this body isn’t a turn-on?”

“Babe,” Dong interjected, “that firecracker little body has always been a turn-on.”

I rolled my eyes and shook my head, keeping my focus on Rae. “It’s not about that and you know it. You mean far more to me than a wet hole to plug into.”

Dong side-eyed me. “Does that mean Hannah means nothing more to you than a wet hole-- OWWW!!!”

Hannah had promptly whacked Dong upside the back of his head, and to both her surprise and his, her hand actually made contact with him, and he nearly fell off my shoulder.

“What the--?” Dong spluttered, while pinwheeling his little arms to regain his balance.

“That’s not possible…” Rae muttered in amazement.

“I know, riiight?” Dong exclaimed, rubbing the back of his head and turning to face Hannah. “That actually hurt!”

“Sorry!” Hannah had both hands clapped over her mouth and blushing cheeks. “I didn’t mean to! I didn’t think I’d actually hit you either!”

“Okay seriously, what did Lin Tang DO to you?!?” Dong squeaked.

“I don’t know!”

“First you could suddenly see me. Now you can actually touch me?!?”

“This shit just keeps getting weirder and weirder,” I drawled, shaking my head. “But back to Rae: the answer is ‘no’. There are other options.”

“Well… probably,” Rae conceded, turning and gesturing back towards the doorway. “Magdalena was masturbating while watching you two fuck, so there’s a halfway decent chance she’ll decide to find out for herself what all the fuss is about. There’s still a possibility that sex with an Italian demigoddess won’t power your Chinese wuxing elemental abilities though.”

“Wait, really?” I popped my eyebrows. “I hadn’t thought of that.”

“Supernatural energy in theory is supernatural energy, but I’d never heard of a being powered by sex, so this is all uncharted territory. Of course, we know for sure that Tiansh--”

“No,” I interrupted sternly before raising an index finger and adding, “Absolutely not. I am NEVER letting her touch me ever again.”

“I figured you’d say that.” Rae shrugged and tapped her own chest. “So like I said: if the difference between victory and defeat is--”

“It won’t come to that.”

“You can’t know that for sure. What if Shen Wu came busting in here right now?”

“He’s not.”

“You don’t know that.”

“Well if he did, we wouldn’t have time for you to… ah… power me up anyways.”

Rae shrugged off her yukata, letting the kimono puddle on the ground. And while reaching behind herself to unfasten her bandeau bikini, she started, “Then maybe we should get this out of the way first to make sure--”

“Rae, I’m serious. No.”

“Bruh, I’m serious,” Dong muttered incredulously. “Why are you trying to get a pretty girl to keep her top ON?!?”

“Because I can’t! Alright!” I exclaimed before gesturing helplessly at the cute fox spirit with the pixie-cut. “Fine Rae. Go ahead and drop your top. It won’t matter. I won’t get hard.”

Rae frowned, her hands still behind her back as if unsure whether or not to actually drop her top.

I stood up in the pool, high enough to reveal my flaccid penis, and gestured at the limp noodle.

Rae glanced at Dong, glanced at Hannah, glanced at my penis, and then glanced at me, looking confused. In the end, she went ahead and removed her bikini top, baring her perky boobs with a very pleasant shape that proved she was far more than “flat-chested”. But of course, I still didn’t get hard.

Dong suddenly materialized on Rae’s shoulder, his arms folded over his chest as he likewise gawked at my drooping member. “Huh… I don’t think I’ve ever seen it in that state in the presence of a naked female.”

“Like I said,” I began, keeping my focus on Rae. “I know you’re a lesbian and I respect that.”

“I’m a naked female,” Hannah purred, gliding her fingertips up my thigh and then taking hold of my junk between her fingers. Within the span of two seconds, my dick rapidly thickened and rose up into a massive erection, ready to go, and Hannah quite happily stroked my shaft back and forth in her hand.

“Okay, so we can still do this!” Dong chirped, clapping his palms together and rubbing them rapidly. “Rae can lie back, Aksel can--”

“No, Dong.” I took a step away from Hannah, pointed my dick at the blue-haired huli jing, and my erection promptly deflated like a punctured balloon.

“Okay now THAT’S weird,” Dong said while pointing quite plainly at my crotch. “Even if he wanted to make it go down, there’s no way it should’ve gone that soft that fast. There’s some kind of magic at work here.”

“Maybe…” I admitted. “I honestly wasn’t expecting it to go that soft that fast, either. But I have noticed that no matter how close Rae and I got during any previous threesomes or moresomes, I never once felt any inclination to initiate something with her.”

“Not even once?” Rae pouted, looking a little hurt.

I arched an eyebrow. “Did you really want me to?”

“Well no, but a girl still likes to believe that people find her sexy and attractive.”

“You’re sexy and attractive Rae,” I told her sincerely.

“Very sexy and attractive,” Hannah chimed in.

“All that and a bag of chips,” Dong added.

“But you and me?” I continued, “That’s not our destiny.”

Rae nodded with an expression of resigned acceptance. “Thank you, Aksel. For respecting my sexuality. You’re not the man-slut out to rack up high scores that I first thought you were.”

“Thanks… I think.”

Rae cracked a smile, but it was only fleeting. “But we still have the original problem then. How do we get you powered up when we need to?”

“I still think it’s a mental block more than anything else,” Hannah spoke up. “But if you want to take the shortcut, surely there are other supernaturals in the Shu Han organization, right? Ones who aren’t gay? Like in Venice, there were at least three women working in that Mission Control room who seemed immune to Aksel’s Ax Effect.”

Rae nodded. “Tianshi could easily order one or two to come join us here in Japan.”

I frowned. “I don’t really like the idea of importing women solely for the sake of servicing me.”

“They’re as committed to the cause as I am,” Rae stated seriously. “If the difference between victory and defeat is--”

“Will you stop saying it like that?” I interrupted. “You make it sound super-gross and it’s a total turn-off.”

“Sorry.” Rae winced. “Perhaps I would be better off saying that there ARE non-gay supernatural Shu Han warriors who would probably find having sex with a skilled lover like you to be quite pleasant and totally not a chore and would most likely enjoy themselves on top of knowing that they would be supercharging The Chosen One of Qinglong with the supernatural energy necessary to power his water elemental abilities.”

I pursed my lips and frowned, not entirely convinced. “That admittedly sounds better, but--”

“Or you could simply ask Tianshi,” Rae added quickly.

“Not happening.”

“Then we have to call in reinforcement pussy,” Rae stated with a shrug.

“That will not be necessary,” a smoky Italian-accented voice suddenly announced.

All four of us immediately turned to look towards the doorway.

Magdalena leaned against the doorjamb with her arms folded beneath her breasts in a way that made the massive mammaries crush together and upwards to create mouthwatering cleavage in her far-too-small yukata. She shook her head slowly before giving me a wry grin, her expression clearly stating, I can’t believe I’m doing this.

Still, she took a deep breath, stood up straight and statuesque, and summoned all of her regal bearing. Then, with a clear and confident voice, the beautiful, busty brunette pronounced, “Chosen One of the Almighty Azure Dragon, it is time I found out for myself what all the fuss is about.”

****

It was now after midnight and all was quiet save for the flickering flames of the gas torches and the bubbling water of the hot spring. There was no wind within the protective confines of the covered pavilion, and although the outside air was quite cold, I felt quite comfortably warm within the steaming pool.

All was peaceful and calm.

Yet the tension was thick enough to be cut by a spoon.

Magdalena and I were alone now. When the Zeusian demigoddess had first stated her intention to find out for herself what all the fuss was about, Rae and Hannah had unsurprisingly been quite keen to stick around and watch the fireworks. But instead I’d immediately asked both women to give me and Magdalena some privacy.

Hell, I also told Dong to disappear and leave us alone, and to his credit, the horny little bastard didn’t argue with me. I knew my ‘spirit guide’ would still be able to invisibly watch and listen to whatever came next, but I hoped he would keep his thoughts to himself and not interfere.

So like I said: Magdalena and I were alone now. I was still naked in the hot spring, and so was Magdalena. She’d returned to her room after the post-operation debrief, cleaned up, and changed into a silk nightgown. But since Tianshi’s sound-baffling barrier around the onsen didn’t work on supernaturals, she’d been able to hear me and Hannah fucking up a storm down the hall and ultimately come to investigate.

I didn’t ask - nor did Magdalena try to explain - why she’d left, only to return later. Perhaps she’d needed to recompose herself after getting caught masturbating in the doorway. But she hadn’t changed clothing, still wearing just the silk nightgown beneath her yukata. Or at least, she HAD been wearing just the silk nightgown until deciding to shed both it and the kimono and come join me in the hot spring clad only in her birthday suit.

In all honesty, I figured that letting her yukata and nightgown puddle onto the deck had been a sort of power move for Magdalena to try and gain the upper hand. With her sharp eyes, chiseled cheekbones, and luscious dark-auburn hair, she was a striking beauty. Combined with her commanding height, epic breasts, and powerful musculature, she was an Amazonian femme fatale, even more stunningly intimidating while completely naked.

But while such a brazen display would’ve made most men go wide-eyed and shell-shocked into submission, nodding dumbly and readily accepting all demands no matter how ridiculous for the sole purpose of getting laid, I wasn’t “most men”. For one thing, I’d already gotten laid tonight. And for another, I was actually in a pretty bad mood.

The whole bit with Rae trying to “take one for the team” had very much soured me on the idea of having sex with her - or anyone - solely for the sake of powering my elemental abilities. That included Magdalena right now, even if she was incredibly gorgeous with an eminently fuckable body.

So instead of turning into a drooling, compliant, easily manipulated “simp” for lack of a better term, I completely ignored Magdalena’s entire slowly deliberate entry into the hot spring as if I hadn’t even noticed she was naked, saying absolutely nothing and simply staring off at the far wall contemplating how fucked-up my situation had become to this point where I completely ignored a gorgeous woman stripping down naked and slowly sliding into a hot spring with me.

I could tell she wasn’t a woman used to being ignored.

Especially while naked.

Hence the tension thick enough to be cut by a spoon.

“I’m sorry,” I said finally, turning to look Magdalena in the eyes. “I know this isn’t how you expected I’d react after saying you wanted to find out what all the fuss was about, nor how you expected I’d react to the sight of your incredible naked body.”

She didn’t reply right away, staring back at me with coal-hard eyes, pursed lips, and an inscrutable expression. She remained silently thoughtful for a long while, probably a full minute, to the point that I finally shrugged and went back to staring off at the far wall.

But it was only for a few seconds before I looked back at her and continued, “I’m… I find… I find myself missing Ziyi right now.” Then I bit my lip, sighed, and turned to look away again.

I could feel some of the tension melting away now that I’d finally spoken aloud what was weighing on my mind. Perhaps it was my imagination, but it felt like Magdalena’s tension was melting as well now that I’d broken the silence. So I went ahead and continued, albeit while still staring at the far wall.

“I promised I’d never leave her again,” I muttered somewhat bitterly. “I promised. And then I went and broke that promise only a few days later. I left her to get taken by some dude with weird shadow tentacle powers. It was kinda like when you took her with your glowing electric rope, come to think of it. Her armor protects her from being damaged, but it apparently can’t help her from getting coiled up and bodily yanked away.”

Risking a glance over at Magdalena with that last part, I found her nodding slowly but not looking back at me. So I returned my gaze to the far wall.

“Did she tell you about how we first met?” I asked without looking over at the Italian woman. “Well, how we first met is a little complicated given the time travel shenanigans, but did she tell you how she first met me? In another life? In another body?”

“Not until a few days ago, no,” Magdalena replied before taking a deep breath and exhaling slowly, which drew me to look over at her. She likewise turned to face me, meeting my eyes. “After you came to rescue her at the Templar Villa. I must admit, I am still skeptical that you are the same being as the man she loved over a thousand years ago.”

“It’s a mindfuck, no doubt about that,” I admitted while shaking my head. “Another life, another body, but I remember every moment like it was yesterday. We fell in love in Imperial China, I died, and she had to wait more than a millennium for me to return. We were finally together again, I promised I’d never leave her--”

“And then you left her.”

I shook my head and sighed. “I tell myself she would’ve wanted me to go rather than stick around to try and save her. It’s the reverse of a thousand years ago when this evil rat demon had me in his clutches and I ordered Ziyi to flee with the Sword of Baihu. The mission was more important than my life.”

“I agree. She would have wanted you to go. The mission IS more important than her life.”

“Is it? Is it really?” I scowled and muttered, “I’m really not sure about this stupid fetch-quest mission to recover an ancient artifact that may or may not have the power to destroy the world as we know it. And the longer it goes on, the more and more I want to grab my girls and walk away.”

“Walk away? You would abandon Jade now?”

“What? No! Of course not.” I sat up straight in the tub and gave Magdalena a harsh look. “If I knew exactly where she was, I would bend you over, ram myself into you until I felt my powers charge up, and then race off into the night to get her back right this very minute!”

Magdalena clenched her teeth and stared at me fiercely with an expression that clearly stated she would lop my head off for daring to threaten her, and I immediately held up my hands.

“Sorry-sorry,” I apologized. “I didn’t mean it like that. Please believe I would never try to take a woman against her will. I only meant that I’d do anything to--”

“Anything to rescue the woman you love,” she finished for me, exhaling slowly. “To be perfectly honest, if I knew exactly where she was, I would bend myself over and let you… charge yourself up… in order to go rescue her.”

I waggled my head and said, “I appreciate that, even though it sounds like it would be the least satisfying encounter of our entire lives.”

Magdalena snorted and looked away, although I thought I saw the corners of her mouth tugging upwards.

Taking a deep breath, I exhaled slowly and regarded Magdalena seriously. Feeling my gaze, she turned to look back at me. And only then did I finally ask, “So what’s your history with Ziyi? With Jade? I understand that the two of you knew each other pretty well over a long, long time.”

Magdalena sniffed and glanced away again, shaking her head slowly before eventually returning her attention to my face. “I think perhaps I did not know Jade… Ziyi… as well as I thought I did,” she pronounced with her accent sounding somewhat thicker than normal and rich with emotion. She sounded both uncertain and a little bit betrayed, actually. “For one thing, she never told me her real name.”

“Don’t take it personally. She said she never told anyone her real name after I died, and by the way, it sounds really weird to say ‘I died’ out loud. Anyways, since she knew that future-me called her ‘Jade’, she immediately adopted the name, and that was her identity for more than a thousand years. So it’s not like she was hiding the name ‘Ziyi’ from you.”

“I suppose. Although your explanation makes me wonder what came first: the chicken or the egg.”

I shook my head. “Don’t try to puzzle out the mechanics of time travel. You’ll only get a headache.”

The brunette shrugged with an expression that said she was already over it. Pursing her lips, she then asked, “What has Ziyi told you about me?”

I took another deep breath and thought about that for a second. I really hadn’t asked Ziyi a whole lot about her past, nor had she actively gone out of her way to volunteer it, but when it came to Magdalena, she had told me a few basics.

“She said you two first met during the aftermath of World War I. Italy was in turmoil during the rise of Fascism while Mussolini was taking power, although she was light on the specifics.”

Magdalena chuckled with a malevolent undertone that chilled my blood. It reminded me of the way she’d laughed after first capturing Ziyi just outside the Roman apartment after the Carabinieri had busted through. “Oh… the old days of being a Fascist.”

“Wait, you were a Fascist?”

“For a time,” she replied unapologetically. “Not that I ever cared much for politics; it was always about power. The Knights Templar wanted to overthrow the democratic Italian government and supported Partito Nazionale Fascista. Jade was a mercenary hired by that same government, tasked specifically with assassinating Mussolini to stop his rising influence.”

“She must have failed, though. Everyone knows Mussolini didn’t die until near the end of World War II.”

“She actually succeeded in biting him, and her powerful venom put him into a coma. Only magic saved him, although the treatment was much like chemotherapy to eradicate the venom, and all of his hair fell out.”

“Wait, you’re saying Mussolini went bald because of Ziyi?!?

Bruh… she bit you too! Twice! Maybe you’re gonna go bald!

‘Why would you even SAY that to me?!?’

Magdalena shrugged a little distractedly, not really listening to me at the moment. Her eyes were unfocused as she appeared lost in thought, reminiscing about the distant past. After a while, she blinked a few times and turned to look at me, explaining, “A hunting party of Camicie Nere, the Blackshirts, was sent to track her down, while I hid in the shadows ready to pounce once they flushed her out.”

“The same thing you did to us with the Carabinieri in Rome.”

Magdalena nodded, again looking anything but apologetic. “We caught up to her in Naples, but she destroyed the Blackshirt team. She could have killed me as well, but she did not.”

“Why not?”

“I have asked her that many times. She never told me. Had me pinned down with a dagger to my neck, staring deep into my eyes. I was ready to die. I accepted that. But she merely licked the dagger to lace it with her venom and gave me a long cut on my neck. The scar is still there.” The beautiful Italian woman tilted her head back and traced a finger beneath the left side of her sharp jawline. I did see a thin two-inch scar there that had never fully healed. “The venom on the blade was enough to knock me unconscious but not to kill me. When I woke up the next morning, she was gone.”

“That certainly wasn’t the last time you saw her though.”

Magdalena’s eyes were unfocused again as she slowly shook her head. “The next time we fought, we were on the same side. After Italy signed an armistice with the Allies during World War II, Germany invaded and occupied my country. I was sent to support the resistance, and King Victor Emmanuel the Third’s government hired her as well. While soldiers fought on the front, she and I both worked behind the lines to sabotage German operations.”

I whistled in amazement and waited patiently as a slow smile spread across Magdalena’s face. Whatever memories she was recalling, they were certainly pleasant ones.

“She saved my life more than once. Those armored scales of hers can turn back a bazooka shell. I saved her life a time or two as well.” The Italian woman sighed nostalgically and then turned to look at me. “There is an Italian saying: Chi si assomiglia si piglia. Whoever is similar gets along. We were both very similar: hard, fierce, dedicated.”

“Beautiful, glorious, with incredible bodies,” I chimed in almost before I realized it.

“Grazie mille. I will never refuse compliments, especially while naked.” She gestured at her own body and sat up straight enough to lift her massive breasts into the open air for a moment before sinking back down into the water.

Speaking of bazookas I didn’t say aloud. Instead, I took a deep breath and praised, “You are a rare beauty, and under other circumstances I would happily pursue you. But at the moment I am much more interested in how you and Ziyi first became lovers.”

Magdalena smiled again. “It was after The Battle of Anzio following the liberation of Rome. Chi trova un amico, trova un tesoro. Whoever finds a friend finds a treasure. She was my treasure.”

“Wow,” I couldn’t help but say at the look in the Italian woman’s eyes. It was a look of admiration, a look of longing.

A look of love.

But that look soon faded from her dark eyes as she sighed. “After Rome, though, we went our separate ways. My loyalty was to the Templars, and she always had her own goals and agendas. Our paths crossed on several occasions; the supernatural world is a small one. Sometimes we were enemies. Sometimes we were allies.”

“But always, you were lovers…” I stated more than asked.

Magdalena didn’t blush nor show any other signs of embarrassment. She merely grinned and nodded, stating, “The woman has more than a thousand years of experience, and she’s a serpent. The things she can do with that tongue…”

I started laughing at the rapturous expression on Magdalena’s face, and the busty brunette actually winked at me while grinning ear to ear. The look on her face made me grin quite widely as well as I remarked, “You know I did ask her for more details about Phuket, but she told me that stuff was between you and her.”

Magdalena laughed with me and then sighed rather dreamily. “Phuket was…” Her voice trailed off as she searched for how to finish that sentence. In the end, she shook her head and muttered softly, “Pensavo di aver trovato l'altra metà della mela.”

I raised both eyebrows, waiting for her to translate that sentence into English for me, the way she’d done with the other ones. But instead the woman went quietly thoughtful, staring off into the distance again. And when she didn’t continue, I said simply, “You love her, don’t you?”

Magdalena blinked twice and then frowned at me. “Do not be ridiculous.”

I held my hands up defensively and tried to look harmless. “I can tell there’s a part of you that resents me merely for existing. You know she’s in love with me, in a way she was never in love with you.”

“I never expected her to fall in love with me,” Magdalena insisted. “Chi nasce tondo non può morir quadrato.”

When she didn’t translate that either, I gave her a blank look.

“Those born round cannot die square.”

“Ah.” I furrowed my eyebrows, turning that statement over in my mind.

“So the truth is that no, I do not resent you. I care enough for Jade… for Ziyi… to value her eternal happiness. She told me about you - about her beloved Chezhou - many years ago. Decades ago. I knew of her quest to find you - to find the reincarnation of the man she truly loved, so I never led myself to believe she might fall in love with me. You were always her ultimate goal, the one person she wanted most, and I always understood that she and I would never be more than intimate friends.”

I nodded slowly but silently, unsure of how to respond to that.

“Still, Jade will always be mio tesoro. My treasure. I want her back just as much as you do, if not more. For that reason alone I would be willing to bend over and let you ‘power up’ in order to improve my chances of rescuing her. And yet…”

My eyebrows went up again as I tried to read her expression and anticipate what she was about to say next. It was an encouraging expression, one with batting eyelashes, a subtle head tilt, and a coy smile. The busty brunette tucked her arms in, squishing her bountiful breasts together to create a line of deep cleavage. And years of witnessing girls under the influence of The Ax Effect using their body language made it easy to recognize a woman’s sexual interest in me.

// I’ve been really trying’ baby / Tryin’ to hold back this feeling for so long

‘Dong…’

“And yet…” Magdalena continued, having no idea that my annoying little spirit guide had started singing in my head. “I would be lying if I tried to claim that my interest in bending over for you was solely for Jade’s benefit.”

// And if you feel like I feel, baby / Then come on, oh come on, ooh!

‘Dude, I told you to leave us alone!’

Magdalena started gliding towards me across the hot spring, her buoyant boobs floating on the surface and leading the way. “I heard every scream and whimper and cry of ecstasy both Jade and Hannah made at the Lago di Bracciano villa.”

// Let’s get in on / Oh, baby! / Let’s get it on / Let’s love, baby

‘Dong!’

“On the airplane it took all my self-control not to open the door to your suite and join in,” Magdalena murmured, her breathing heavier, her lips pouty as she panted. “And even with Jade gone this evening, the sight of you and Hannah floating above the hot spring just thrusting and thrusting and thrusting… Ohhh…”

// Let’s get it onnn, sugar! / Let’s get it onnn, ooh-ooh-ooh!

‘Oh for fuck’s sake.’

Dong suddenly materialized on my shoulder, repeating, “Oh for fuck’s sake!”

The little blue gecko’s abrupt appearance stopped Magdalena in her tracks, her eyes going wide in surprise and her jaw gaping open, swallowing whatever words she was about to say next.

“Now is NOT a good time, dude!” I complained, thrusting out my hands towards the smokin’ hot naked girl in front of me.

“No need to tell me!” Dong shot back. “Of all the times for some unwanted asshole to interrupt…”

“Then why are you interrupting?!?”

“I’m not! HE is!”

“Who the fuck is ‘HE’?”

“THAT guy!” Dong pointed out beyond the covered pavilion to the bamboo fence that bordered the manicured Japanese garden and separated us from the open forest.

And then the fence blew apart.

As if they were born from a massive, Kaiju-sized octopus, multiple shadow tentacles suddenly burst forth, entering the pavilion and immediately wrapping around both me and Magdalena before we could react. The inky, dark appendages formed multiple coils to trap our arms and legs together before hoisting us out of the hot spring and into the air. And with a shadow tentacle covering my mouth, I couldn’t even scream.

I wasn’t sure exactly what I thought a shadow tentacle might feel like. From afar they looked as if they were composed of dark clouds, seeming to have infinite depth and yet simultaneously no depth at all, as if they were two-dimensional with no mass whatsoever. Whenever I stepped into the shade of a rooftop on a sunny day, for example, it wasn’t like I could feel any sort of weight pressing down on me.

But this was different. The shadow tentacles over my mouth, arms, and legs felt cold, slimy, and disgusting. They certainly had mass, and they felt as if they were composed of the most horrifying, nauseating, viscous material imaginable to the point where it felt like the tentacles’ toxic touch was quite literally melting my skin off. And oh, holy fucking shit, it felt like one of those tentacles was worming its tip towards my undefended asshole.

Ah, HELL naw!

Magdalena and I were both wet, naked, and caught off-guard, but neither of us was completely helpless. In the corner of my eye I saw glowing flashes of light even before I heard the crackle of electricity. A second later, I heard Magdalena’s roar of righteous anger accompanied by a thunderous clap, soon followed by the smell of charred meat. And when I turned my head to look, I saw the Amazonian demigoddess (still naked) fall to the ground of the carefully manicured Japanese garden on the hotel grounds, landing in a perfect Black Widow-style superhero pose with one knee and one hand down with the other knee raised and the other arm extended back behind her.

As for myself, my defensive abilities still worked just fine. Almost on instinct, my magical ice armor was already forming around my entire body, soothing the toxic burns against my skin before creating an impenetrable barrier between me and the shadow tentacles.

I still couldn’t move, though. I was protected for the moment, but I’d never been able to move very fast within the ice armor, and it didn’t do a thing to dislodge the tentacles still holding me up in the air. Still trapped, I then felt myself being carried rather helplessly away from the Japanese garden, past the wrecked bamboo fence, and into the open forest.

“Fuck-fuck-fuck-fuck-fuck,” I grunted within my mask of ice, now able to talk. I concentrated on forming a dagger, an ice sword, or anything remotely sharp in order to start slicing off the shadow tentacles still wrapped around my armor-clad body. I thought about waving my arms around in a big circle to create a Yin-yang-reinforced shield, but of course I couldn’t move my arms. I thought about turning the hot spring water into a ginormous Bigby’s Hand to reach out from the onsen and start up a magical tug-of-war with the shadow tentacles to drag me back to the resort.

Nothing worked.

The tentacles carried me further and further into the forest.

Turning my head, I looked back for Magdalena. In the distance, back by the bamboo fence, I saw flashes of lightning that indicated she was fighting… something… or maybe a whole bunch of somethings. But the flashes weren’t getting any closer. For now at least, she wasn’t able to follow me.

“Any bright ideas?!” I called to Dong.

Don’t die, bro!

“Still not helpful!”

What do you want me to do? Wound the shadow tentacles with my snide remarks?

“Oh, this is bad, this is bad, this is bad.”

You shoulda plugged yourself into Magdalena when you had the chance. Or even Rae!

“Too late nowwwwwww-OW! OW! OW!!!”

Those last three exclamations had been shouts of pain after the shadow tentacles had abruptly let go of me. For some weird reason, my ice armor likewise evaporated, leaving absolutely nothing to protect me as I fell to the forest floor from about ten feet up in the air while traveling at some twenty miles an hour.

The first shout of pain had been when my body first landed on the hard-packed earth. The second came after I bounced up into the air after the first impact and then hit the ground again, rolling in an awkward tumble. And the third had been the result of my rather aggressive collision with a tree trunk, the sort of high-velocity impact that would have snapped my spine were I not still charged up with superhuman strength after that epic aerial assfuck with Hannah.

Still, crashing into a tree had hurt.

A lot.

So I remained on the ground, writhing and groaning in agony, careless for the way my wet, naked body was accumulating dirt and leaves. And I muttered, “Fucking A…”

Um, dude? Get up.

‘Can you gimme a minute?’

Uh, not really. Get up.

“Nnnggghhh…” I groaned, rolling onto my side in a fetal position and taking a deep breath.

Get up, get up, get up!

I wasn’t being obtuse on purpose. I was just in a LOT of pain. Anyone who has reached middle-age will tell you that sometimes, getting up off the ground just isn’t that easy anymore. Still, hearing the urgency in Dong’s voice, I forced myself to push through the pain and got to my knees before pushing myself up into a standing position.

And then I gasped.

A man stood before me. Not the Shadow Ninja, it was someone else.

Someone familiar.

He was an old man with stringy, gray hair, most of it pulled back in a messy pile. He had a long and pointy mustache, almost as long and pointy as his lengthy beard. His skin was dry and flaky, like parchment, stretched very thin over his skeletal frame. And he wore fine dark robes in the style of Imperial China, heavily embroidered with gold thread.

Warlord Zhu Wen.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

Prologue & Chapter 1: The Ax Effect: https://www.patreon.com/posts/102225387

Chapter 2: Santa Monica: https://www.patreon.com/posts/102437478

Chapter 3: The Zellij Fountain: https://www.patreon.com/posts/102691018

Chapter 4: Euhemerism: https://www.patreon.com/posts/102919819

Chapter 5: The Fremont Troll: https://www.patreon.com/posts/103191700

Chapter 6: Jade: https://www.patreon.com/posts/103443053

Chapter 7: The Blue Gecko: https://www.patreon.com/posts/103699709

Chapter 8: Yaoguai: https://www.patreon.com/posts/103978374

Chapter 9: Rome: https://www.patreon.com/posts/104213388

Chapter 10: Seeing Sights: https://www.patreon.com/posts/104466709

Chapter 11: Liu Kang: https://www.patreon.com/posts/104728056