Chapter 51 - Slow and Steady

---Two Days Later---

Laying out in the Sun, my lovers were taking a much need R&R break. The past few days we had been letting villages and cities along our way south know of the impending horde. Stop by stop the congregation grew to what was now a two mile long caravan heading for the islands off the southern coast. Taking advantage of having the warship's presence to ward off would be pirates, everyone was keen on getting out of the area while they could. Sure people weren't happy about having to leave their homes and memories, but they also wanted to continue living to see the next day...something I continued to remind Ji-u of. Many small cities and villages we encountered barely had a standing militia, so even if they come together they still wouldn't have the firepower to stop the horde.

A few of the larger cities tried to convince me to fortify their cities so they could hold out, but I told them to fuck off. I wasn't interested in building a fortress on the densest populated continent on Earth. India and China were right on top of them, there was no building a fortress to protect them with the potential numbers they would see. Telling them to make a fort off the coast on an island, I said the ocean would give them more of a barrier than they realized. It wasn't shallow water between the islands and the mainland, it went down several hundred feet. That depth alone was more than enough to deal with the hordes just with water pressure and currents.

In the end they admitted that they were being overly optimistic, and agreed to come with us as there wasn't going to be another ship coming to escort them. A few groups of would be pirates did attempt a few raids on our caravan our first day out, which was a stupid idea. They must have thought we were out of ammo as they didn't veer off when Oriha pointed the guns at them, all I can think is that assumed we were bluffing. Ultimately she blew them out of the water, and the sea swallowed them up afterwards.

"You sure it's really a good time for them to sunbath?", Kenichi asked me in a low voice, "I mean we should be doing other things."

"If you keep that mentality you can kiss keeping a woman goodbye.", I scoffed with a smirk, "After all the work we have put in, taking some time to themselves isn't a bad thing."

"Still though...", Kenichi remarked.

"Let me make this easy kid, mind your own fucking business.", Rika spat, "You do your thing, we will do ours. We don't need some shrimp telling us what to do."

Laughing at that Takashi, Hisashi, Souichiro, and Bob told him it was easier to just let them do what they wanted and leave them alone. At this point it wasn't like we needed to go out on a mission anyways, and there weren't enemies barreling down on us so it was a good time to relax. Taking the time to relax was important for everyone's mental health as being stressed all the time would lead to an early grave.

"Let's not forget your Masters are also taking some time to decompress too.", Bob told him, "Just learn to go with the flow, don't fight it. Believe me, I have tried stopping Souichiro from making dumbass decisions...it never works."

"Exactly, take the good times while we can have them.", Takashi said trying to hold back his laughter.

"Then why are we working out...", Kenichi asked.

"To be specific, I was working out and you all came here.', I reminded them as I was doing pushups, "I didn't say you had to come here."

"Fuck you Bob...", Souichiro sighed giving him the middle finger, "Either way, not like there is anything better to do."

Telling them I thought they were idiots, I continued working out for an hour with them. Telling me the were going to do their own thing now, I knew most of them were going to chill or spend time with their special someones. Quite frankly I didn't care, it was just nice to get them off my back for a while.

"Having fun?", Renka asked as the women climbed down from where they had been sunbathing.

"You all done?", I questioned.

"Well yes, if we stay out too long we will get sun bleached or sunburned.", Yuriko told me, "Either result isn't pretty, and can be quite painful. Want to join us for a quick rinse in the showers?"

"Haha, there won't be anything quick about that rinse off. You all still want more after two nights in a row?", I snickered.

"We appreciate that a young man like you enjoys older women like us.", Kiriko laughed, "It reminds us that we aren't as old as we think we are."

"Is that so wrong?", Sayo asked with an innocent look.

Telling them I would join them shortly, I said to make sure the shower room was clear before I'd join them. Nodding their heads the group walked away to rinse their sun tan oil off. Admiring the view I was looking forward to a little mischief in the showers with them. Saori and I hadn't done the deed yet, but we were getting close. Surprisingly she was very receptive to my flirtation, the only thing holding her back was Kenichi. She had broken to the news to him after the fight, and his reaction was worse than Takashi's. He actually punched me in the face, and told me that I was a jackass for taking his mother as my lover.

His biggest issue was that he and I were the same age, roughly. He didn't like the idea of his mother being with me for that reason, and because he thought I'd corrupt her for some reason. Quite honestly her cheery demeanor was just like Shizuka, and I liked that about them. I didn't want to change that about her, nor was I the kind of guy to do that to her. Even though he acted like we were on good terms now, I knew we really weren't and that was because-

"Victor!", Miu said walking over in a skimpy bikini with a bottle of water "Here is some water for you."

Having saved her grandfather from dying on the docks, Miu had fallen head over heels for me. Any chance to get close to me she had taken, even going as far as to bury the hatchet with Renka which startled all of us. The two had fought a lot of over Kenichi in the past, Renka never once expected her to want to make peace with her, more so this quickly. So between Miu and Saori, I found myself on the top of his shit list...a place I could careless about.

"Thanks", I said gratefully accepting the water, "What's the special occasion?"

"The kids were playing in a few kiddy pools, and I was helping watch over them.", she told me, "Does it not look good on me?"

"I like it a lot! I just...I didn't think you'd wear something like that. It is...well it is really good looking, I think you'd look better in blue or maybe strips.", I admitted trying not to ogle her.

<<<Picture Here>>>

"Next time I see one in one of those two styles, I will grab it then.", she replied with a smile as the bikini struggled to keep those assets back.

Honestly I had intended to not interfere with Kenichi and Miu's relationship, but that idiot wasn't making a decisive decision with the Miku's group and the others chasing after him. Fact is that him trying to be the nice guy by not trying to hurt their feelings had screwed him over with Miu. I understood he was trying not to cause a problem, but it had pushed Miu away as those women hated her. They were the manipulative type that liked to control people, Miu wasn't the type to just accept that so she had to go in their eyes...well that's how Miu explained it anyways.

"Sounds like a plan to me.", I chuckled with a wink, "How's your grandfather doing?"

"He and the other Masters are meditating on the stern of the ship.", she motioning to the back of the ship, "After seeing all that death and chaos they want to mourn the dead, and honor the sacrifices of those that fought to save others. We don't know the final total of those that died, but I can imagine the totals were very steep."

"I see.", I stated leaning in close.

Giving her a kiss on the lips, she gave me a smile before running off with a red face. If Kenichi wasn't going to give the hussy women a straight answer and make Miu suffer, I wasn't going to let her stay alone. To be fair, Miu came on me first while I was busy moving supplies in the cargo hold a day ago. Giving me a big kiss on the lips turned into a make out session that cost me an extra thirty minutes of time down there, worth it in my opinion. Since then whenever we were alone one of us would initiate a kiss which usually sent her scurrying away as she was embarrassed by it.

'For all her strength, she is still a shy girl at heart.', I thought with a smirk, 'Damn she looked amazing in that bikini...maybe I should consider getting the other's one of them.'

Adding that to a note on my HUD, I made up my mind to ensure I purchased or found one for each of my lovers. Heading down to the shower room once it was clear, I slipped in and enjoyed some more quality time with my lovers. After some bonding time, we went up to replace Kohta at the helm. Plopping down in chairs around the room, the women kicked back with some nice ice cold water to cool off. Pretty soon a few of the women went to the bedroom to take a nap while the rest stayed to talk.

"So exactly how much longer will we be going this slow?", Rei asked, "I know that we are doing this because they paid us with supplies, but we are barely making progress."

"A day or two before we reach the islands. While we are there I figured we'd take a day to stretch our legs before heading to Busan.", I told her, "The islands are really going to be the only safe place for a while that isn't on the ocean, so enjoy it while you can."

"What's in Busan?", Mikoto inquired.

"US Naval Base.", Saya answered, "The only US naval base in South Korea, we are going to load up on ammunition and weapons right?"

"Yep.", I chuckled, "It's because someone thinks ammo grows on trees."

"I resent that statement!", Oriha pouted, "I saved a lot of people with my suppression fire!"

"Agreed, but you expended half of our large rounds. The small to medium sized guns would have been enough.", I pointed out.

"They don't make a big enough explosion for my taste, you really don't understand that explosions come in many flavors.", Oriha sighed.

"If an explosion has a flavor, you may want to get checked out.", Astrid laughed.

"Already checked her out, she is too far gone.", Sayo answered.

"Oh fuck you!", Oriha complained.

Laughing at that the women started to discuss what they would do on the island. Most of them said they'd play on the beach or go diving for shellfish...and make me cook it for them. Listening to their conversation for a while, Midna came out of my shadow with a smirk.

"You have yet to thank me for protecting your lovers. I stopped quite a lot of bullets from tearing them apart.", Midna pointed.

"I have said thank you several times.", I sighed.

"You are always welcome to say it more.", she giggled sitting on the console, "Anyways now that you aren't busy fucking or speaking with locals...we should discuss the sudden World Phase increase."

"Yeah...I assume that wasn't the thing you couldn't tell me.", I responded.

"No it wasn't, I couldn't tell you about the Spider Masterminds being armed with plasma weapons.", she answered, "The Prince of Hell, the hacking of defense systems, and the increase in world difficulty took me by surprise same as you."

"Tell me, have they met the actual Slayer before?", I questioned, "The Demon's I mean, the Prince of Hell referred to me as the Slayer."

"Honestly I have no clue.", she replied, "I wasn't privy to that information from the big wigs. For all I know it's because of your titles."

"I am fairly certain it wasn't one of the people that sent me here, I would have received compensation if it were one of them.", I stated, "I don't think it was Umbrella, if they could have done that they would have done it early on against me. Based on what Jeong stated I am fairly certain there is a third party interfering. If I were to wager it's tied to the GATE."

"Oh?", Midna said, "Why do you believe that?"

"The fact that the Demons from DOOM are here means the Nameless One exists, he could have caused that. It could have been a deity on the other side of the GATE like Hardy who caused it, or for that matter her Apostle might have been the one to cause it. There are a lot of people that could be responsible, I have to be ready for any or all of them. I will need to take their heads for that shit!.", I answered.

"You realize that Hardy is a God, right? You'd need a Divine Weapon to execute her, and a hell of a lot of luck.", Midna pointed out, "I think you are crazy for even considering it."

"I think it's doable, once the GATE is opened I will gain access to magic. The Sato System will come into it's own in a fantasy world, and if I find out Hardy had something to do with it...I will mount her head on a pike.", I stated with a serious expression, "That was too close, I could have lost several of my lovers in that skirmish. We were lucky to get off with bullet wounds and a few bruises. Several of the Ma pupils are still not out of the woods yet, they are still not waking up."

"True, fortunately no one was bitten, scratched, or infected though.", she reminded me.

"Yep, just had to have bullets removed.", I sighed, "I wonder how things are going on Umbrella's side?"

---Raccoon City, Umbrella HQ---

"I need a status report!!", the commander ordered, "What's the status of our major bases around the globe?"

"Sir, all African facilities have gone dark. We have confirmed that the self-destruction options were used to contain the projects there.", one of the information officers said, "They reported that several of the unidentified intelligent Demons were the ones leading the groups."

"Our Asian branches report that they aren't going to hold out very long. Layers 1 and 2 of their defenses have been breached, if they don't receive aid Layer 3 will be breached in a matter of hours.", another officer stated.

"What the hell caused this? I need answers people!!", the commander shouted, "All this shit happened in a matter of moments, and we still don't know the cause!!"

"It would appear those Demons somehow acquired code that put the undead into frenzied state.", his Cybernetic Engineer informed him, "We are completely locked out of our systems in regards to the undead, they no longer follow our orders and we can't take control back. The self-destruction features have been disabled as well, I am afraid we are at a loss here."

"What about our assets in Europe? Has help arrived from Miranda?", the commander inquired.

"Sir, Miranda's people were almost completely destroyed by a Demon Nest that came out of the Ural Mountains. Only Dimitrescu is alive, and she has fled and gone off the radar. Even her full draconic form was overwhelmed by a large horde of Demons and Undead, again it appears that a group of intelligent Demons was leading the charge there too.", the Chief of Intelligence stated, "Also sir, your son engaged a horde of five million on the South Korean border led by an intelligent Demon as well. He killed the majority of them before leaving the area according to our sources in the Korean government. Your son executed the Demon and it's backers in a few short moments, I don't know whether that makes them weak or him very strong at this point..."

"He did?", the commander remarked with a proud smirk, "Five million, you are sure?"

"We have satellite footage of it, he fought them in close quarter combat.", the Chief of Intelligence said with a pale look, "Sir if I may...seeing the footage, I don't think it's in our best interest to antagonize him further. He slew more than two million will his bare hands alone, and collapsed a skyscraper with brute force...a fifty story building to be exact and tossed one of those massive Ogre looking undead like it was a paperweight."

"At this point I could careless about chasing him, how many bases do we still have operational?", the commander asked.

"In total we have seventeen, in a few hours it may drop to ten when the Asian bases fall.", Jessica told him, "They are awaiting your orders on how to proceed."

"Have the Asian bases evacuate to the Northeastern Russian base on the Yam Islands.", the commander ordered, "They should be far enough removed there to regroup, and secure a foothold for a counterstrike once the Tyrants are ready for deployment."

"We abandoned that base years ago...", Jessica reminded him, "The base isn't operational let alone supplied for-"

"They will have to make due, we are losing too many people out there to sweat the small stuff. Just have one of our supply ships run them supplies, if memory serves we have a crew a few days away that can get them back online. Just get it done!", he ordered.

'Apparently he doesn't remember why we abandoned that base...', she thought with a shiver, 'If that thing is still alive, those people are going to die.'

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Author Note: Sorry for missing a chapter on Monday. The company I am contracted to dropped a massive project on us Saturday morning that needed done by Sunday afternoon. Twenty hours of what should have been an 8 hour shift later...I was in no condition to write, and slept most of Sunday. I apologize for that, but the bright side is all that juicy overtime is going to pay for my set of four new tires on my car...haha...