Demonic Pornstar System

Chapter 1102: Mission Accomplished

In the days after Taigi’s feast, Kaiden developed a routine he could happily have continued for a very long time.

Breakfast, a dungeon, enough food to alarm the restaurant staff, then another dungeon if the first had left them time and strength to spare.

Japan had plenty to keep them occupied.

He fought beside Calypso through collapsing passages and across chambers littered with broken weapons, his blood constructs catching whatever her axe left alive. When an enemy drove him backward, a golden barrier from Alexandra gave him somewhere to plant his foot and push back.

"Darling, a little help?"

With Calypso’s axe lodged in a creature’s plated shoulder, Kaiden hooked its weapon aside with his gauntlet. Her next wrench tore through the joint, and the thing’s scream ended beneath a crescent of Aria’s moonlight.

They came out bloodied, hungry, and very pleased with themselves.

With each level, he invested his new stat points and felt the results in his limbs. The next time something heavy tried to put him through a wall, he had the considerable pleasure of throwing it through one instead.

The Dungeon Master Points accumulated alongside the experience. Every clear gave him more to spend on the world waiting beyond the Japanese entrance, and he found himself studying the growing balance over dinner.

"Kai."

Aria held a piece of grilled fish in front of his mouth.

"You can admire your fortune after you’ve eaten."

He accepted the bite, then kissed her fingers before she could withdraw them.

"I’m admiring several fortunes."

"Cringeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee..." Luna scoffed.

Unlike the Storm Valkyrie, however, the Moon Valkyrie loved the gesture with her entire being, evidenced by the love in her eyes.

"Mm. Better."

The restaurants became part of the adventure. Yunohana led them to little places whose owners grew flustered at the sight of her, then fiercely determined to feed her guests until nobody could stand.

Calypso took their challenge very seriously.

At home, his lovers proved just as committed to enjoying themselves. They were fucking like rabbits, finding time and energy with an enthusiasm that made their complaints about exhaustion increasingly difficult to believe.

"We need more sleep," Luna informed him one morning, yawning against his shoulder.

"You asked for another round."

"...No? You shameless bastard, you spread me and had your way with me before I even said a word!"

"You were asking with your eyes."

"Look at this motherfucker."

He kissed her forehead and pulled the blanket higher around them. Breakfast could wait a little longer.

Outside their bedroom, the days kept moving. Eclipse’s raid groups returned from their own gates with battered equipment, fresh levels, and stories they shouted across dinner tables before the food had arrived.

More roads reopened. Families went back to towns whose streets had stood empty, and the red marks on the Circle’s map disappeared as the mixed teams worked through the remaining clearances.

Then the final reports came in.

...

"There are no outstanding clearances."

At the top of the steps outside the Shogunate Circle’s command hall, Yunohana folded the report and looked up at Kaiden.

"The last overflow zones have been confirmed clear. With Eclipse’s help, Japan is free of the dangerous dungeons we have been struggling to contain. The ones remaining are those we maintain for training and resources."

"All of them?"

"All of them."

Her smile was full of pride, and he shared it. He remembered the enormous map above the parade ground, all those places waiting for people strong enough to go inside and end their suffering.

Now the work was finished.

"I’m glad," he said.

"So am I. More than I can say."

She glanced down at the folded paper, smoothing an edge that was already perfectly straight.

"Though it does mean I have rather run out of dungeons to take you to."

The sadness in her voice made him reach for her. He drew her against his chest with an arm around her waist, and she rested a hand over his heart.

They had grown used to leaving together in the morning, spending the day beside each other, coming home with another meal to anticipate. She had wanted her country safe so badly. He understood why finally achieving it could still hurt a little.

"I might stop running from one dungeon to the next here," he murmured. "But Japan will always be my second home."

Beside the steps, Nyx’s mouth curved.

An American calling Japan his second home would ordinarily be paying a straightforward compliment. America retained first place, and his hosts received the honor of coming next.

Kaiden, however, went home to the Abyssal Palace. He slept beside his women in a world of his own, where the land belonged to him and his people lived under his protection.

If he considered that his first home, Japan had just pushed America out of second place.

Or was he counting only homes on Earth, leaving his dungeon outside the comparison entirely? There was still a perfectly gracious interpretation available to anyone who preferred it.

Nyx caught Sonoda’s eye. The liaison raised her folder a little too late to conceal her grin.

"Your people have given us a great deal, Yuno. I won’t forget that. And I intend to keep coming back to enjoy their company."

Yunohana’s fingers curled against his shirt.

"You will always be welcome."

"Why does this sound like goodbye, woman?" Kaiden asked suddenly.

Yunohana paused, eyes widening. "What do you mean?"

"You’re mine and mine alone. Mine to fight beside by day and lie beside at night. I’ll not have a long-distance relationship with you."

"But..."

"I’m not telling you to quit Japan or the Circle. But you better request a change in on-site hours. With my dungeon, you’ll be able to spend considerable time here still, but also tend to your new duties."

"New duties?"

"Making me happy, of course," he grinned, then tilted his head. "Should I stop being this forceful? I would understand-"

Yunohana shook her head.

"No, my love. Your bluntness is what my undecided heart required. I’ll do as you command." Her smile warmed as she rose onto her toes and kissed his cheek, lingering there before settling back against him.

A whistle came from the parade ground below.

Eclipse’s four hundred awakened stood in formation before the steps, their rows filling the yard beneath the guild’s banners. Weapons rested at their sides, repaired armor caught the morning light, and every face was turned toward their commander.

Scarlet stood at the front with her arms folded, grinning at the couple. Behind her, Yuna Park pressed her lips together with very little success, while someone farther back made a kissing noise and received an elbow from a squadmate.

Kaiden looked over them with Yunohana still tucked against his side.

"Our work in Japan is done."

The teasing subsided. In the second row, a fighter who had been smiling lowered his chin, his attention moving toward the Japanese colleagues gathered along the yard’s edge.

"We came to help clear the dungeons pouring monsters into this country. To give people their homes back and let them walk their own streets safely again. Together with our friends in the Circle, we’ve done it."

He had expected to feel nothing but satisfaction saying those words. Looking across the people who had made them true, he discovered how reluctant he was to bring their time here to an end.

Several of his fighters wore the same expression. They had been so eager for the next assignment, the next gate, another evening of comparing what they had fought and where they had eaten afterward.

Now there would be no new list waiting for them.

"May I?" Yunohana asked him softly.

"Of course."