Patreon Short - Nathalia watching the tournament pre-Thana fight

[Sponsored/Requested by Cassie]

“I find the fact that you would choose him as your mate incredibly funny,” the Horned Rat said and munched on the snacks that Aclysia brought him. The god had made it a habit to watch the fights with Nathalia, not all that hard to sneak in if everyone aside from the dragoness and John’s maid had left the house.

“I find the fact that you keep messing with him irritating,” Nathalia returned, stuffing her face with at least three times the amount of food that rat-skull headed humanoid form of her friend did consume. “Yet here we are. Watching him fight.”

The sound of more food being prepared could be heard from the kitchen, together with the cheerful humming of an eager housewife. ‘This girl will be like half the reason to mate with John,’ Nathalia realized. Between his dick and her cooking, the dragoness had everything she wanted.

“That we do indeed, Richard.” Nathalia had begun calling him that herself just because of how fitting it was. 

“Wait… what is happening?” It was rare to hear the Rat sound surprised in any way, so Nathalia quickly shifted her attention to the screen. 

Alexej was pressed to the ground by that horribly overly sadistic shadow girl. The commentators, specifically the black lizardman, were talking over the otherwise silent camera work. “Did he just… trying to kill your king isn’t against the rules, but it sure as hell isn’t helpful…I mean what-“

“SCRATCH THAT, DRA, ALL CAMERAS TO THE SKY!” Jeff interrupted, and indeed, the cameras shifted, showing the massive tear in the sky above Rome.

“Well, that is unexpected,” the Horned Rat spoke as the nuke fell out of the gap. “They must have gotten Gehnigm on their side,” with that analysis he threw a bit of greasy, fresh bacon in his mouth. There was no reason to be worried for either of them; Romulus was down there, so this whole situation would soon fix itself.

“Mhm, this might be an interesting test for John,” Nathalia stretched on the couch as she saw the flood of elite fighters falling from the sky once Romulus had indeed stopped the nuke. She had claimed the whole leather pedestal for herself; Richard was banned over to the seat. “Watching him fight makes me horny.”

“What doesn’t make you horny?” the Horned Rat wondered, the red flickers inside his eyes rotating around the rim of their sockets. “Anyway, if you want to make that a test, we might as well have John at his full capabilities.”

“That is true,” Nathalia agreed. She didn’t feel the need to intervene herself, Romulus was there, and as such John was safe from the things he shouldn’t have to face right now. If he fell in combat against regular goons at this stage of his impressive development, then the fire in Nathalia’s loins was entirely misplaced, although the rather quick extinguishing of it would be bad for her heart, she feared. “Aclysia, come over here and have a look at the program.”

“What is it, Mistress Natha- Oh!” the weaponized maid appeared from the kitchen and suddenly popped out of existence upon seeing what was unfolding on the screen, only to reappear immediately on said screen.

“Really neat those gamer abilities,” the Horned Rat said and got up to go into the kitchen.

“Will you now take over the job as snack maker?” Nathalia wondered as another question plagued her mind. If John truly was unworthy of her, what then? She had a vague feeling that it would hurt, a lot. Especially if he died in the process. Even the notion made her chest tighten, not enough to overcome her convictions though. Better be in pain for a bit than end up with an unworthy mate.

“Just put out the stove, she left it on,” Richard answered when he returned. “I wouldn’t want the house to burn down in their absence, especially if it is a so easily avoided calamity.”

“You act like a dick, but at the core you are as soft as every other mammal,” Nathalia ridiculed him, her husky voice coming out in short laughs.

“Maybe,” the Horned Rat just shrugged it off, “but my plans are above my personal attachments. The goal must be reached.”

“Whatever that goal of yours even is.” It was Nathalia’s turn to roll her eyes. They watched John fight his way over to Thana, and then… then something changed. The air throughout the whole barrier felt different all of a sudden. “Did you feel that too?”

The creaking of the Horned Rat’s skull as his teeth moved to a creepy smile. “Look at that, look at that, my prophesy finally unravelled in its entirety. She DID ascend after all…” John was catapulted throughout the arena. “…although THAT wasn’t part of my idea.”

“What is that?” Nathalia whispered in shock for a moment as her eyes laid on the girl she was supposed to know devouring human flesh. Having eaten a few humans in her own time, it wasn’t the sight that disturbed her but the who did it. Thana always had a load of mental problems, but none of them bad enough to start eating her own kind.

“A human goddess… I may have miscalculated,” the Horned Rat spoke. “I thought she would be something like the goddess of hope, a light in the darkness, but that…” they followed the camera’s filming, the audio a heavy argument between Jeff and Dra whether or not to continue the broadcast, the former being for and the latter being against it, as Thana began to mutilate every single invader and grow into some nightmarish creature.

“Well, Romulus will stop her,” Nathalia decided as the scream of the carapaced creature reached her ears, not through the television but by simply echoing over the entirety of the city. There was no need for her to intervene still. The Emperor had a honourable heart, surely he would spare the girl if possible, and if not, that was that anyway.

Then she stormed at Romulus and ripped out his heart, and she finally realized just what level of shit they were in. “Horn, teleport us in there!” she demanded.

“Already doing it!” the Horned Rat responded in a hastened fashion as arcane symbols appeared around them.