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Sexy Sect Babes Three: Chapter Thirty
🕑 Added 2023-10-13 13:10:33 +0000 UTCCredit where credit was due, Murm reacted quickly.
Honestly, Jack probably wouldn’t have even perceived the claws that would have killed him were it not for a single lithe leg flicking up at the last moment, the bladed spur on the end perfectly positioned to intercept the sword that would have ended his life.
The miner did see the resulting explosion of sparks that came about from that strike, as two titanic forces clashed inches from his face, before one of those forces was blown backwards.
And it wasn’t Yating.
“Ugh,” Murm grunted as she slid to a stop a dozen meters away, her feet gouging deep furrows into the marble floor as she did.
The very air stilled, as if the entire planet was holding its breath.
Jack watched as the Rooster-God casually regained his footing, bouncing off the ground and onto his feet with a casual tap of his elbow against the floor.
“I… I feel strong?” The divinity murmured.
Another clang rang out, and Jack watched as Murm seemingly teleported from her former position to appear at Yating’s side, clawed gauntlets intercepted with almost causal disdain by a metal spur and a palm against the tiger’s wrist respectively.
It was not a comfortable looking position on Yating’s part, given that he had but a single limb on the ground and one leg extended at almost a ninety degree angle.
Yet the Rooster looked almost serene as his foe strained against him.
“I’d almost forgotten this feeling,” he murmured. “Not to have that parasite sucking at my core.”
The outstretched leg lashed out and once more Murm was sent skidding back.
“I mean, we didn’t have very long at all before the Carp came to us with her solution to our Human problem. Not by our standards at least.” The being snickered. “So young. So naïve. Somehow both terrified and yet utterly assured of our invincibility.”
The outstretched leg came down once more, the spurs at the end red hot and glowing from what Jack could only assume was friction.
The Tiger-Goddess snarled, the very air around her distorted by… something. “Blasphemer. Heretic. Traitor. Every breath you take now is an affront to the oaths we all swore. Rightful tribute stolen from a system that has protected us all for generations beyond counting.”
“Oaths sworn on a false premise,” Yating spat back, embers of rage entering his voice and posture for the first time since his… well, Jack supposed emancipation was a word for it. “To vanquish a foe long dead.”
The two divine beings glared at each other, before a third voice made itself known.
“…That’s not strictly true though, is it?”
Bhati.
The Ox-Goddess.
And she’d said those words from right in Jack’s ear.
Before he could move, fingers with the power to shatter steel gripped his neck from behind, lifting him to his feet. The motion was neither cruel nor forceful, but the threat was implicit as Jack found himself positioned between the Ox-woman and Yating like a human shield.
His elbow came back with surety that came from using the same move a thousand times, a lifetime of street brawls guiding his aim, backed up by synth-muscles capable of shattering stone into rubble with an errant twitch.
And as he suspected would happen, the woman behind him stopped the blow cold, with all the ease of a grown woman manhandling an unruly child.
“Enough of that now,” she whispered into his ear. “We wouldn’t want something as… fascinating as you to get unduly damaged now, would we?”
“Fuck you, bitch.” He hissed back.
The Ox actually tittered.
“Ah, I almost forgot how it feels to be insulted. How precocious.”
Yet even as she said the words, Jack felt the grip on his neck tighten, strong enough to bruise a normal man.
Oh, he had other options, but he wasn’t entirely sure he could access them before his spine got turned to powder.
Which meant he had to wait and hope things went well.
Should have gone for the retinal HUD upgrade, he thought as he glanced over toward his casually discarded helmet. Because I just know I’m going to fuck up the timing on my big moment now.
Sighing internally, he could only give Yating an apologetic glance as the God’s eyes flicked worriedly between him and the two loyalist goddesses.
“Really Bhati?” Yating breathed. “Your first chance at freedom in thousands of years, and you focus on what his species is.”
Despite himself, Jack’s eyes flitted towards the stands where his people were.
Or at least, most of them. The mortals in attendance seemed to have fainted, Huang included, which was something he’d likely attribute to the kind of passive killing intent that was likely being thrown around right now.
The air certainly had that funny heat haze distortion thing going on.
And while his people were trained for that sort of thing, there was apparently a limit.
A limit that seemed to have been surpassed just by being in the same general area as three gods having a pissing contest.
At least, I hope they’re only unconscious and not… dead, he thought.
Fortunately An and Shui were still standing on his side of the arena. They looked a little pale and unsteady, but they were definitely still standing. Hopefully they were mitigating the worst of the effects on his people.
He deliberately looked away though as An’s eyes caught his own.
The ox-woman holding his neck shrugged. “Freedom? Funny word.”
“A meaningful word.” Yating’s eyes narrowed.
“In that the meaning changes from person to person?” Bhati chuckled. “Freedom to the peasant is not the same as freedom to the lady. I am free. Within the roles of my station.”
“You can’t be serious!?” Yating’s frustration was audible. “We could be-”
“Dead.” Bhati’s tone lost all amusement. “Or worse. Because those were the fates that awaited us before the Empress saved us.”
“She deceived us!” A wave of force emanated from the rooster, kicking up dust in all directions around him. “Made herself into a great lake and us little more than tributaries.”
“Because none of you would have gone along with the plan if you’d known,” Murm muttered.
Yating’s gaze was incredulous as her eyes darted between the two. “You knew!? Both of you?”
The Ox cocked her head. “Honey, I’m the foremost seal-master in the Empire. I am the basis of every seal in the Empire. From the Wall to the Southernmost city gate. All of them are protected by my work.” She tapped at the small of her back. “Do you think the web that holds it all together would be any different?”
“The Warrior. The Architect. And the Mother.” Murm said the words like they were some kind of holy writ. “Each of us had a role, and we gave ourselves unto it fully. For the good of our people. A concept you and yours have never understood.”
“Mou, if only our Visionary hadn’t gotten cold feet,” Bhati sighed.
“T-The Monkey?”
“It was her plan,” Murm muttered resentfully. “Until she decided she had a better one.”
Jack saw it, the moment Yating snapped. The Rooster roared and for just a moment, the miner feared the god would attack – spearing through the miner’s own body to do so if needed.
Fortunately, the moment the Ox raised the mortal man up like a shield, the god hesitated.
“Ah, I was right, this one does hold some sentimental value to you.” Bhati tittered. “For a moment there I feared I had miscalculated.”
Yating grit his teeth, waves of force emanating out from him, causing yet more cracks to form in the marble flooring. Honestly, at this point, Jack had no idea how the entire structure hadn’t come down. It was built to be tough, given that it was supposed to be an arena, but it wasn’t built god-tough.
Murm strode forward, cautiously. “The peace we fought so hard to forge is unraveling because of the weakness of you and yours. I will not allow another knot to come undone right under my nose. So, you will be coming with us. You will be rebranded. And you will explain what in the Creator’s name that… thing is.”
The spur on Yating’s foot came up with unerring stillness, stopping Murm in her tracks as it aimed directly at her.
“Or what?” The man asked. “Because I’m rather liking my odds against you or her. While there are things about the brand I apparently didn’t know, I know for a fact you two still have one. I felt it. I can still feel it. Sapping your strength to feed that gluttonous carp.”
“Or we’ll kill your pet.” Bhati smiled. “Because for all that I’m curious about it.” Jack grunted as the grip on his neck tightened to the point that he could hear the metal around his bones squealing. “I’ll not put my life’s work at risk to satiate that curiosity.”
Yating frowned, even as Murm smirked. “See? That’s the difference between us and you. For all your claims to being better than the animals you once were, at your core, you’re little more than Instinctives. Beholden to nothing more than your own wants and needs.”
Bhati stopped squeezing just as spots started to form in Jack’s vision. “To reach the next stage of Reasoned cultivation, one must embrace law. Not just of the land around them but inside themselves. Totally. Utterly.”
Yating’s glare continued, but there was no missing the tensing of the muscles in his thighs.
Shit, he’s about to move, Jack thought frantically. He’s already written me off!
A laugh broke out amongst the gathering of gods, and to everyone’s surprise it hadn’t come from the Laughing God.
“I think you two are bargaining with bad chips,” Jack laughed, wiping a tear from his eye. “Because Yating’s selfish, just like you said. She might feel a little guilty for abandoning me, but she’ll do it in a second, because I’ve already given her what she wanted. This entire rebellion was about spiting your Empress and attaining her freedom.”
It really wasn’t hard to figure out. At least, it hadn’t been after Jack figured out that Yating had something that forced him to stay here. Otherwise, a person as curious as him would never have stayed on just one continent. That, combined with the guy’s reaction to Jack’s explosive subdermal charges, told the miner pretty much everything he needed to know.
“I could have freed her at any point. I didn’t though, because I needed her. And I knew that the second I got rid of that brand, she wouldn’t need me any more- and she’d leave me and mine to die while she gallivanted off to do whatever the fuck she wanted.”
It was actually a little amusing, the look of both shame and frustration that bubbled across the god’s face at his words. That Jack could have freed him from his torment. That Yating would have run if he could.
“I’d have at least felt a little guilty about it,” the god shrugged with a small smile. “Might have even stuck around until the end. Or at least, seen you to safety.”
“Maybe.” Jack smiled back through bloody teeth. “It’s fine though. It’d be pretty hypocritical of me to complain about you being selfish.”
Given that Jack was the embodiment of the word. Everything he’d done since arriving in this world had been in the name of enriching himself and ensuring his own autonomy.
And he hadn’t cared how many people had needed to die for that to happen. Sure, he’d tried his best to do right by those people who came under his sway – but ultimately, he knew he’d spend those lives to secure his own.
He’d deceived both his allies and enemies. Had people die for a false cause. Made promises he could never keep, implicit and explicit.
Even now his confession was entirely in the name of buying time.
How could he judge someone else for doing the same?
“So you’re worthless to us?” Murm grunted. “You human… thing.”
There was no missing the animosity there. Yating had once said Jack made him uncomfortable. That he felt ‘unnatural’. And he had little doubt Murm had a pretty low opinion of humans to begin with. She’d fought an entire war against them after all.
Yeah, she wants to kill me, he thought.
Unfortunately, he still needed a little more time. Thinking frantically, he was surprised when an interruption came from an unexpected source.
“Please, Ladies Murm and Bhati, this lowly inquisitor begs that you reconsider ending this… unworthy imposter’s life.”
Shi, of all people, was bowing deeply, her head touching the very stones of the arena as she pleaded with the two gods.
Murm’s gaze was indecipherable as she regarded the Inquisitor, the goddess still tensed for combat.
“Why?”
The words were simple and no nonsense, but they demanded an immediate answer.
An answer Shi gladly gave. “As much as it pains this lowly one to say it, this imposter is what the Empire needs. His strength may be false, but his achievements are not.”
“Achievements?” Murm scoffed. “It was clearly Yating that slew the Red Death before propping up this ‘fake’ divinity to force us to step carefully. Though from where it came, I know not.”
Behind him, Bhati shifted slightly as Shi’s head remained firmly pressed to the floor. “Perhaps. Its lackluster showing here today would encourage that belief.” Despite himself, Jack felt a little offended by that. Even if it was true. The lackluster part at least. “Yet what of his other accomplishments?”
Murm cocked her head, though Bhati was quicker to catch on. “This arena. The nearby fortress. Those strange weapons the mortals held. Powerful enough to allow a… mortal to defeat a low level cultivator.”
“Just so, Divine Blacksmith.” Relief was audible in her tone. “Those could not be the work of the Laughing God. Her skills are known and they do not extend towards the creation of things. Her failures on that front are as fables for children.”
It was all Jack could do not to laugh hysterically as, despite the circumstances, the Laughing God in question actually clicked his tongue in irritation.
“While the Empire has need of swords and ki now more than ever, it sorely needs craftsmen and builders even moreso. The Empire bleeds each day as beasts make chattel of her people, yet do you see that happening here? Amongst these lands?”
Jack didn’t like the way Bhati turned him towards her, her gaze contemplative, even as Murm scoffed. “Those things are the work of this… creature’s master. Not the puppet itself. I know not where they hide, but they shall be rooted from the province in time.”
“Perhaps,” Bhati allowed. “Perhaps not. There is much here I do not understand. All conventional wisdom tells me this creature could not accomplish those things. Yet that same wisdom tells me it should be dead.”
Jack grunted as the woman shook him slightly, like a child shaking an animal to draw a response. “Yet here it is, alive to every sense of mine beyond my most important.”
Her gaze turned toward her comrade. “If young Shi’s words are truth… can we take the risk? When the solution to one of our most looming problems lies before us?”
“I think that Yating won’t let us take her toy, and thus it is a moot question.” Murm growled. “She is the most valuable resource here – and when we clash, it shall die in the fighting.”
“I-”
Jack saw it. On the horizon. Bhati did too.
“I think you’re all counting your chickens before they’ve hatched. No offense Yating.”
In response, both god and goddess gave him a perplexed glance, but not Bhati.
Her gaze was on the black speck that only continued to grow with time.
“What is that?” Her words were simple and to the point. “Tell me now or die.”
Jack just laughed, relief pervading his every pore.
“Kill me and we’ll all die screaming before long.”
Murm scoffed. “A bluff.”
Her heart wasn’t in it though. And Jack knew why. For much the same reason he’d not even tried to lie since they’d shown up.
Yating could always tell when he was lying. Even through his body language or just listening to the rush of his blood in his veins, the god had always been able to tell when Jack lied.
And the miner didn’t doubt both Murm and Bhating had the same ability.
“We both know that’s rather pointless,” he said. “So I’ll just hit you with the truth.”
And a few thousand tons of explosives, he thought.
Because that was when the End-Game hit a distant mountain at Mach Three. A large one, perfectly positioned to provide maximum visual impact to someone a safe distance away.
Which required a considerable amount of distance given the sheer explosive payload the machine was carrying.
The Dutchman – the machine that killed the Red Death – had been loaded with important cargo, some of which had happened to be explosive.
The End-Game suffered from no such limitation.
They’ll probably be suffering from shattered windows across the entire province, Jack thought as the blast wave ripped across the intervening terrain between them like a great wave.
The sound was deafening – and more than one cultivator flinched as it ripped over them.
And in the distance, where once a serene and mighty mountain stood, well now there wasn’t.
“There’s probably just a crater there now,” he murmured as the sound finally faded.
His little impromptu demonstration hadn’t quite had the fanfare he’d been after – given that he’d intended for it to serve as a warning as the Imperial Envoy were leaving – but that didn’t mean it hadn’t been effective.
Indeed, as he stood up, he realized that Bhati had actually lost her grip on him, as she stared in open mouthed horror at the distant ash cloud.
“Because, as much as you all seem to want to believe that I’m powerless because I lack magical powers,” he reached down to pick up his discarded helmet, wiping away a little blood on it as he did. “I think that little show of force demonstrates I’m not.”
Bhati recovered, grabbing him and physically lifting him into the air, the front of his armor crumpling like paper as her fingers dug into it.
“Is that supposed to scare us?” She hissed. Wide eyed. Gone was the calm ‘researcher’ persona she’d had once before. “Whatever that thing was, it was slow to maneuver. It took time to summon. And we will not stand idly by like a mountain to be demolished.”
Her finger dug into his wound, snapping another rib. “If you meant to threaten a god, I shall remind you that you are but flesh and easily torn asunder.”
Jack just smiled, even as he wanted to cry out in agony. “And your cities are but stone, and equally as bad at dodging as mountains.”
She dropped him. “We have many cities. How many of those… things do you have?”
“Just two.” He said casually, inspected the latest damage to his armor. “And I just used one of those in this demonstration.”
Bhati laughed, relief flooding through her. “You mean to threaten us into retreat with but a single destroyed city? Even the loss of the Imperial Capital could not prompt me to retreat this day.”
Jack just shrugged. “Perhaps. But how about all of them? Every city? And every man, woman and child in the Empire? Because last I checked, you’ve only got one wall. And you’re struggling to hold one breach in it.”
He placed his helmet over his head, allowing the machine’s speakers to carry his distorted voice clear across the arena.
“Because last I checked, your walls are just as bad at dodging as your cities.”
“You’d allow the Instinctive hordes to triumph!?” Murm hissed. “Use them as a weapon? Consign an entire Empire of men, women and children to death if the alternative was defeat!?”
Bhati said nothing. Pale skinned, the goddess had taken a step back, her eyes wide as if only just seeing him for the first time. Even Yating was looking askance at him.
The stands were totally silent, the audience waiting with bated breath.
In response, inside his helmet, Jack mouthed that his favorite color was blue.
Outside, his speakers calmly repeated one of many pre-recorded responses. “Of course. In a heartbeat.”
Comments
Alex
Is patreon t1 not supposed to get the final chapter yet even though reddit got this one?
wowza
I'm a bit lost, is this book done now or is there still one more chapter after this?
Corey Thompson
Holy shit, fuck me. TFTC, I need to sit down.
Medical-Cyanide
Hmm, if he really wanted and said “fuck it” I wonder how hard it would be for Jack to theoretically make a planet cracker
Medical-Cyanide
It’s ending of the books ending?
Medical-Cyanide
Elwin wanted powerful children if I recall? So I could 100% see that.
Medical-Cyanide
Damnit, I should’ve known that the first tier wouldn’t be enough! Thank you for the wonderful story! That said. MAD is a glorious option, historically we have done more stupid things out of spite. What’s another few hundred million to ~ a billion or so more innocents to prove a point.
guido pier
I would have dodge the question saying "its called mutually asured destruction" but seeing him be prepared for lie detection is SO fucking cool
Oreo-belt25
I've reread this perfect chapter a dozen times now. I'm dying to wait for the next release
Dankenobi1
wrong post mate
Groinfist
I actually came up with it because I'm a lesbian that likes fisting lol.
Afunnythinghappedtome
Your username makes me think of the movie Kung Pow and the character Wimp Lo.
Blue Fishcake
I do appreciate you commenting twice, effectively hiding the announcement from view ;D
Pwntatochip
1
Pwntatochip
"I get to be conscious when they start shoving things down my throat." Someone's having fun this Friday, lucky bastard. Hope you recover quickly. As the earlier person said. Take it easy.
Groinfist
Good luck and remember to take it easy after and heal up
Blue Fishcake
Went for my post-op interview with the expectation that all would be fine and I would be done in ten minutes. All was not fine. The 'granulation' has formed something like a bridge across my throat - which goes some way to explaining why I've been whistling when I yawn. Plus, the difficulty breathing. I thought it was just the asthma that runs in my family acting up in response to everything and it'd go away eventually. It was not and will not. So now I've been booked in for some not quite desperate surgery tomorrow. They need to laser the... polyps? Scar tissue? Scabs? I'm not entirely sure what fits. Fortunately, I don't need knocking out this time. Just a local anesthetic. Unfortunately, that means I get to be conscious when they start shoving things down my throat. I'm not squeamish about this shit, but it still doesn't sound particularly enjoyable and not how I planned to spend my Friday morning. Well, whatever... I doubt I'm going to be getting much writing done tomorrow. I guess we'll see how it goes though.
yyflame
I think that could have worked if we were talking about chapter 1 Jack, but at this point I don't think Jack would be willing to condemn all of the Mortals of the empire to death just to spite the divinities. Even though he pretends to have a heart of stone, Jack cares about his people.
Ramon Diaz
Honestly he shouldn't even have to lie to them. They want to take everything from him and make him a slave. A good response to Murm's last question could be "Why shouldn't I, you want to make me your slave and take everything I worked to build after you abandoned this place. You can take it by force, but I will make you pay for it." It works just fine as an answer and no trickery needed and lets them know that they have to negotiate with him that for all for all their power they are helpless in front of a mortal human.
Groinfist
Jack "we also have another saying from where I'm from... fuck around and find out."
Marcin
Dont forget- a Mortal made 3 divinities fold like scolded schoolgirls... Its even worse thst hes mortal, id think it would be the divinities trying to conceal it coz now everyone sees their cowardice...
Found&Lost
Elwin is among the least likely to abandon him. The Red Death is from HER homeland, is HER boogeyman. Jack not only faced and killed him, he wears him. That almost guarantees that Elwin will be her father's heir.
Colt Parris
The is only one chapter left?
Marcin
Yeah it was leeching power, but replenishing power would take far more time.
John
idk what you're talking about man. it's pretty clearly stated in the chapter that the seal was leeching power from yating, which is why she's now more powerful without it. jack just nullifies qi because he's not from this world, he doesn't boost anyone or whatever
Oreo-belt25
An has spent a whole year using his tech and learning from him. I'm pretty sure she has 100% faith in him and wouldn't leave. Ren might be a problem, but I'm sure she'll come around. Shi has honor and is a pragmatist, she'll try to get everything she can from him, but she won't outright betray him. Elwin might just fuck off.
Marcin
No... power of friendship is only when teenagers need to fight a god...
Groinfist
Its because of the power of friendship.
Björn1911
His lack of ki might turn some of them away, however the fact is his feats, his skills, and the fact he turned away 2 divinities and had them spill the beans on live TV and radio, with recording, shows that while he isn't a divinity in the normal sense. He still has power, and power is all that matters to a cultivator.
Overclocked
Force equals mass times acceleration. Shoot a pebble fast enough at earth, and you can crack the world in two.
Overclocked
Just this book or the series? Weird part of the story to just end it.
yyflame
Like, unless Jack pulls an order 66 and has his mortal guard kill every cultivator in the city in a surprise attack (including Ann & Ren) before they find out about it, I don't see how this massive issue can be resolved in a single chapter.
yyflame
I wonder how this will affect the loyalty of Jack's followers. Now that they know he isn't a cultivator and he's threatened to end all of their lives I can't imagine that any cultivators would still follow him. It's a shame there's only one chapter left because I can't imagine it will be able to resolve this issue without just throwing away major aspects of the setting.
Marcin
Removing parasite wouldnt recharge the power... it was stated earlied that Yating had problems recovering coz male ki is very rare in this world. And after he got freed he basically bitchslapped the other two aside, with no effort.
Orion Dye
Jacks blood simply removed the parasite that was sucking away his strength. Remember The rooster is male and therefore is weaker than any of the other divinities, but since he’s not being drained he’s more powerful than them. As to why Jacks blood can do that when his skin or spit or other fluids cant is a very good question. Also it seems likely that humans still exist outside the empire, the other divinity level beings wouldn’t like the 12 to impose on their territory and likely don’t have the same fear of humans as the 12 do.
Marcin
Well... now we now. Those "divinities" purged humans from this world... and "divinites" are cowards trough and trough... zero spine. Yating might get addicted to Jack... kinda seems like his blood boosted him.
Larynx Punchworthy
Ayyy, mission accomplished then!
Sean McHale
I love how Jack's reaction to being called out on a bluff is to bluff exponentially bigger!
Marcin
If they decide on cold war they lost already.. coz he can make a crapton of even worse things in the meantime.
Oreo-belt25
"Planet Cracker" referncing his old mining job where he literally cracked planets
Oreo-belt25
That's a nice touch at the end, there. Bhati will surely sense that what he mouthed is different than what his speakers said. That reinforces that he's an unknown, and unknowns scare divinities.
Groinfist
Now for An's perspective on everything that's happened and Jack's secret coming to light, and ofcourse the inevitable negotiations for peace.
charles Haddow
ah yes, the "if im going down, your all coming with me" defense, well played
Maddest Hatter
Glad too know I'm not the only one getting Lelouch vibes
Blue Fishcake
This comment gave me a genuine laugh, so thanks for that :D
excarion
Pls dont stop🥲
MarakEvans
Lelouch? Why you pre recording random shit again? Who are you fooling around with? Gods?
Larynx Punchworthy
I’ve been enjoying this series so much that I’m afraid your next 3 novel series where the male MC gets into trouble and has to use skill and cunning to escape it while somehow accruing a harem of women and an ambiguous relationship with a femboy is going to hit different.
Beeees!
Oooh, cold War time!!! With maybe a few trade deals
Dragon Lord247
I’m so sad this series is ending
Dragon Lord247
Of course jack would have this prepared it’s jack
Angela Kimova
OH THATS GOOD! Using the fucking speakers to circumvent whatever lie detection they have...
Teral Hilliard
That was good. )_)
kingblue rextom
I know this is late but jack needed WWE style entrance music for the arena fights
Sullivan Imbert
as it now seems obvious that he has an "other" power in addition to his presumed intellect. I wonder if he will be considered by the other gods as an equally powerful enemy in his own way . And to who has the biggest one, I think our Jack got them hahaha. Pray to the god's bane , fear the mortal god
Davan Krueger
Let's hope they don't read his lips
Alric Good
Hell yeah
BigBro Bluesman
He needs a nickname! How about the "Mortal God" it has a ring to it doesn't it?
Pwntatochip
"Bitch I crack planets, the only reason I haven't cracked yours , is I like living here" Jack 'the foreshadow master' Johansen. His job IS to go to hazardous planets, and break them apart to better access the minerals a multi system star empire needs. I think if you have teleport pads that can span planetary or even interstellar distances you can figure out advanced explosives.
Blue Fishcake
The handy dandy wrap everything up in a neat bow chapter to cool off after the climax. The literary equivalent of a post-coitus smoke.
Vlad Cold
Actually, most mining explosions are that way: minimum flash, maximum efficiency. So, if that was, say, high-yield seismic geoprobe, it is relatively realistic. Would create pretty strong quake though.
Borisoff72
We don't know how far down the shuttle went before setting off the explosives.
Reverb
Not a fan of the MC of ship babes. Even just a few chapters in. His response to getting kidnapped is to have sex with his kidnappers. I get it's an RSM world, but what would we think of a woman who did the same?
Reverb
one more - it's the epilogue
Chargcake
340k is so small
JustShadow
Please tell me there is one more chapter
Orion Dye
Last i checked, its a whole new IP after this so ya it’ll be on hiatus like sexy space babes.
Orion Dye
Well i hope you are looking forward to sexy ship babes, because thats whats next!
Orion Dye
They can tell when he lies by reading his heartbeat. While Jack is a manipulative liar, he is not heartless enough to consign untold millions to slaughter to save himself. Therefore he told a truth “my favorite color is blue” inside his helmet where they couldn’t hear him and had the recording simultaneously state “of course, in a heartbeat” so that it would appear he was telling the truth even though he was actually lying.
Found&Lost
Ahh thanks. It's late.
Redacted
Ah, I see Jack has been reading up on the doctrine of M.A.D.
Pv2
Daniel: ??? I think you're reading something into what I said that isn't there.
Dankenobi1
dude chill, its just scifi
Andrew
Thank you!
Blue Fishcake
I suppose I could give it a bit of rewording for clarity's sake :D
Marcin
Depends what kind of explosive it was... there are many types designed to specyfically breach hard objects. Shattering bunkers, tanks... now imagine the same concept but with future tech and enlarged 100 times...
13ry4n
"Now, get the fuck out of my city."
Jeremy
The debris from that mountain might reach as far as the wall. if they are within sight of the mountain they may want to seek shelter from the house sized fragments that will soon be falling. Great story, hate to see it end.
John
they can tell if he's lying, so if he actually spoke that statement out loud they'd tell he wasn't telling the truth. so he recorded himself saying it and whispered he liked blue into his helmet to make it seem like the recorded statement is true
PalindromeJoe
Once again beautiful work wordsmith!
Blue Fishcake
I'd like to think I've improved with time. Writing is a skill set just like any other :D And there's only one way to get practice at writing this kind of long form content.
PalindromeJoe
He's trying to get around the bullshit magical lie detector that gods have. He's factually saying something 'true' (He likes the color blue), but he uses his nonmagical tech to say he's willing to destroy the empire if he were to be defeated.
John
i do actually second this. that part was kind of underwhelming for what should have been the last hoorah of the book
Blue Fishcake
Just the arc, while I work on something else for a while. Avoiding burnout and all that jazz after pumping 340k words into the series over two years.
Pv2
The mountain destruction is bizarre - not even a high yield nuke can level one from a surface detonation. You also wouldn't even have to get up to nukes before the smoke/debris obscure the mountain for far, far longer than the conversation would pause to gawk... And for all that, the narration of the blast is nearly non-existent. It's simultaneously doing way more than it should be in concept, but also underwhelming in execution. Strongly recommend reworking that section.
Wickerwood
Ending it with a bang.
Reverb
Mutually assured destruction has always been an effective deterrent
Found&Lost
Why did he need the recorded answer? What would the recording do? Also, spite is an amazingly powerful force!
DamnedThrice
I will say that as much as I enjoyed Sexy Space Babes, I think this story is substantially better than it. That's not me saying the OG trilogy is bad. But for whatever reason, I have found this story in particular to be far more enjoyable.
Carlos Torres
I bet the other divinities would feel a whole lot different if they were to hear a recording of this conversation.
Slade
Holy hell what a bluff
Nick
Second to last... I'm changing my vote I want more of this.
Footbraclet
And here, we, go!
John
oh that last part is genius lmao
DamnedThrice
I adore the level of the vindictive pettiness displayed by the MC.
Matt Bradock
That's a very smart way to cheat a bullshit magic lie detector.
aj0413
Ah. MAD protocols have been imitated lmfao
Darth
That last line, absolutely cold blooded, jeez.
David Giles
Brinksmanship is always a delightful negotiating tactic.
Ben
Fuck yeah
Blue Fishcake
Second to last chapter, and I'll be damned if it isn't bittersweet for me...
