Eventually, things settled down enough that we decided to march up Dragonmount to the Temple of the Goddess and finish the prophecy. Most of the past week had involved rushing Sophia's coronation so we could all stay in Koh'rin unperturbed, which involved more moving parts than I had expected, but still had to be done quickly. Time was of the essence; it was only a matter of time before Wannabe Sauron bashed my head in for procrastinating.

It was a long climb, but one aided by magic; we had food created by Nature Magic to alleviate any bags we might have needed to bring, and landscape shifting if things ever got too inconvenient to walk. There might have been some way to speed up the climb through flying, but a calm walk through nature provided nice buildup for the upcoming final encounter.

There were seven of us. Hilda insisted on coming along, which was fine with me, even though she wouldn't have much to do at the temple. She seemed happy just to be included.

Medea was off repairing the Beastkin Empire. My punishment had been simple; give her the dicking of her life, and when she was frothing at the mouth for more, tell her that I wouldn't fuck her again until she undid all the damage in the Beastkin Empire. That got her running off real quick. As far as I knew, she was now being heralded as history's greatest hero as she all but single-handedly restored the almost fallen empire to its former glory. She was playing it off like she had studied ancient healing techniques after her self-exile. I had to give her credit, she knew how to turn on a dime and manipulate situations to her favor. She probably had a bunch of irons in the fire I didn't even know about. So many irons in the fire.

"So," Hilda asked. I looked her way. "What are you going to wish for?"

"It's a dumb wish," I said, rubbing my nose.

"Aww, there's no dumb wishes. Let's hear it."

"Okay, okay. I've been thinking this ever since I first heard about the wish back in Koh'rin. I'm going to... I'm going to wish for Jeffrey to be brought back to life."

"...Who?" she asked.

"What."

"Who's Jeffrey?"

"WHAT?! You forgot who Jeffrey is?!" I exclaimed. I looked at my lovely soon-to-be wife Rose for support, but she just arched an eyebrow of her own.

"Is that someone I should know?" she asked.

"I... I... What. How? He's been so important for my character development. How have you all forgotten who he was?!"

Hilda wrinkled her nose. "Wait, I think I might remember. Wasn't he kind of a dick or something?"

Unbelievable. Un-fucking-believable. Not only had they forgotten Jeffrey, but now they were besmirching his good name from beyond the grave. Terrible. I had spent all this time working hard just to revive him from the death and undo my greatest mistake, but they didn't even remember him.

The temple came into sight. I could see the blazing tablet with the prophecy on it, flying high in the air. It was majestic indeed, and it made sense that anyone who saw it would instantly believe in it being true. This was just not something that occurred naturally. The temple itself was more mundane; a pretty standard Greek-inspired pantheon type of building. There was one thing that stood out far more than anything else, however.

Sauron was standing at the top of the staircase leading to the pillars. He stood with his hands on the hilt of his mace, which was turned upside down such that the club end was resting on the floor. We all gathered at the base of the stairs as he looked down and regarded us beneath this face-covering plate helmet.

"So you have finally arrived," he said, bemused voice echoing across the top of Dragonmount.

"Are you here to stop us?" I called back. I still wasn't entirely sure if I could beat him, if it came down to it, but I would have to try.

"What do you think?"

Okay, I didn't expect the sass. "Maybe? You're standing in a pretty intimidating posture, and you're kind of a final boss figure."

He barked a laugh. "I serve the Goddess. Why would I forestall her Heir? I wish only to converse briefly before you are lost."

Hmm. Ominous. In fact, it was almost like he knew something about my future... and that could only mean one thing.

"You're me from the future, aren't you?" I said, voice brimming with confidence. He had to be. Time travel, ominous armored figure, cloaked face and distorted voice... It had to be me as some kind of future Dark Knight, twisted by time and tragedy.

Sauron shook his head slowly. "Do you think you are the only one, Heir?"

"What?"

"The only one the Goddess summoned. There have been countless failed Heirs, who remained only Heroes to the end. Some were repurposed; turned into Dark Lords for the Heroes to slay or be slayed by. I am one such hero, summoned from a distant planet."

"Earth?" I asked. Sauron nodded. "Unmask yourself, so that we may see eye to eye."

Sauron paused. "You will regret knowing. There are some questions that are better left unanswered. If we come to blows, you will lose the will to fight."

"Hah. I'm overpowered. Nobody can scare me."

Sauron let go of his mace, and lifted his hands slowly. He placed both hands on either side of his helmet, and lifted.

When the helmet was fully off, I fell to my knees, face contorted in horror. I couldn't stop shaking. We were fucked. We could not risk combat with him. I couldn't believe it. What dark magic had the Goddess used to bind him of all people?!

Messy brown hair. Reddened eyes glowing with the power of a dark and chaotic plasma. A rounded, curved chin with the tufts of a slight beard. A confident smirk that exuded power. It was him. It was him. I dared not speak his name; he would be known as Sauron now and henceforth, for all our safety.

"You weren't so bad last time we fought, dude," he said with his trademark smirk. "You made me use 5% of my power."

"How?! You... You're not supposed to be real!"

Sauron smirked harder and shifted, his full body of black, spiked plate armor shifting with him. "You can't contain an idea, dude. The Supreme Goddess searched all of creation to find the greatest warrior who ever lived. She found me, and summoned a fragment of my soul here." He lifted a gauntleted hand, his expression briefly shifting to be morose. "But I was no Heir, dude. I had only strength, not love. I slayed every obstacle in my way, but, like, found no love. I was a failure in her eyes."

I stood up, on shaky legs. "And then...?"

"I slayed the other failed Heroes. It was supposed to be, like, a balanced system. A Hero will kill Demon Kings, then a Demon King will kill Heroes. But I was too strong. I killed and killed and killed. I've been the Demon King for far too long, dude."

I blinked with sympathy. Sauron was undoubtedly the most powerful and dangerous force in the universe, but not even he deserved to be bound like this, surely. What was the Goddess thinking?

There was a pause as we faced each other; him at the top of the stairs, me at the bottom. He regarded my harem, and then stood aside, such that we could go through the door.

"Go on, dude. You won where I could not. Claim your victory and inherit the world."

"I will."

We walked past Sauron and the pillars; simply passing by his form was enough to buffet us with wind. I had to be grateful he was containing 95% of his power, for otherwise we would have run the risk of disintegrating in his presence.

From there we entered the main room of the building. In the center was a large magic circle with five equally sized circles around it, and one extra large circle towards the entrance. One circle for each of the Five, and one for me, presumably. It was simple and immediately understandable. There was some hesitance to step onto the circles, admittedly, for lack of knowledge about what would happen, but I had died a thousand deaths. My sense of danger had inevitably dulled after so many loops. There was never any option but to step onto the circles.

We did so, and nothing happened at first. We just stood there awkwardly; Rose was in the one to my right, then Sophia, then Daiya, then Flare, then Xetra, then me. In order of their joining, for lack of any better order. But nothing happened.

"Aaaaah!" came a voice from behind us. "Finally. I've been waiting for this for so long."

I turned. Hilda?

She strode into the center of the circle, and instantly it activated. Beams of energy shot from each of the Five, hitting Hilda, and then shooting straight into the heavens. It took a second, but I realized there were five beams of energy shooting from each of them into me as well. We were all connected; my soul split into five portions, each dedicated to one of them. It took a moment to realize, but it hit me they were each disintegrating, mouths opened in silent screams. They all disappeared before my eyes.

Hilda was lost within the energy of the central pillar, but I caught glimpses, and realized she was changing. She grew taller; her hair turned from black to green; her robes turned white, then fell apart, until she was clothed in a graceful series of sashes rather than any one robe. Her skin went from a sickly pallor to a healthy pink.

No... Was Hilda really a... a...

The energy faded, and the Goddess was unmistakably there.

D.

The circles were empty. All of the Five were gone.

M.

The Goddess smiled at me, holding up two hands high into the air. Her sizable boobs bounced beneath the two distinct sashes that covered her nipples, but left her wondrous breasts visible.

P.

"Welcome, Heir, to my temple. I am glad you made it."

C.

"Are you... really...?"

D. M. P. C.

Autosave Complete!

"Was it not obvious, Malcador?" She licked her lips, an action hardly befitting her divine appearance. "I would hardly have let anyone else have your virginity."

I staggered back off the magic circle. "It was you, all along...?"

She flicked a hand dismissively. "She was more a puppet than anything, but I took control in all the moments that mattered, yes."

"A puppet...? Did you control her? And where's all of the Five?!" I shouted. Anger flashed through my mind, but Sauron smoothly stepped to her side. I had no hope of attacking her with him around.

"I will explain the Five later, but as for Hilda... It is difficult for me to influence the physical realm from within the Alpha Heaven, but to worm my way into the mind of a miserable girl and seize control? That I can do." She smiled at me. It was a smile that radiated divinity and perfection.

"But... Why?"

"I made it clear, did I not? To give you a push, and ensure your virginity was mine."

"A... a push?"

"Malcador, Maldacor, Malcador. Have you stopped thinking at all?" She paused, then laughed; it sounded like a tinkling bell. "I suppose I cannot antagonize you for that when it was what I wanted in the first place."

"I, I don't..."

"Fear not, I know." She gestured. "I will explain, out of gratitude for you making my dream come true, as mentioned. My motivations are simple, and you have guessed them many times. I sat in my Alpha Heaven alone for many millennia, greatly anticipating the day the perfect man would be born and ascend to my level. But no matter how long I waited, nobody came; there were 8999 levels for them to surpass, and yet all men were imperfect in one way or another. Not quite my ideal. Not quite perfect. Strong but not sexy; sexy but not strong. My yearning for a perfect husband grew stronger until it was an obsession, and eventually, I realized that if I wanted a perfect man, I would have to make him myself."

"And that was me...?"

"Was you? Oh, heavens no." Another tinkly laugh. "I searched the outer worlds for a pliable man, one with a deadened heart, one who could be molded into the shape I desired. I found none that quite fit my expectations, and all seemed lost, but then I heard a desperate prayer; the prayer of a man begging for me to summon them. It was like fate. I yearned for him as much as he yearned for me."

"Wait," I said. "Your name is Palutena?"

"Yes."

"Should I read into that?"

"No."

"Okay, continue."

"I captured your soul, but realized soon that you, too, were not quite perfect. Perhaps you would reach the 4000th heaven or so, but not the Alpha Heaven. But it did not matter. My intention had been all along to craft the perfect husband, and I had long since realized no one would ever naturally be perfect. One has to put in work to make love and perfection a reality." She sighed happily, looking me over. "But it is work well worth doing."

"But... Where does possessing Hilda come into this?"

"Do you recall how you were when you arrived in this world? Hardly a strong man, and one bound by prudish otherworldly values regarding sex. Neither of those would do. My lust is strong, and founded in strength. It would not do to have a weak husband unable to satisfy me in bed."

"Er..."

"Hilda killed two birds with one stone. I gave her access to the Heart of the World, enchanting her Cursed abilities to the point she became known as the Excursed of Summoning. From there, I planted her next to your statue; if nothing else, your statue was symbolic of the time I have put into preparing for this through subtle means. When it became time to wake you up, she had already summoned an army for you to defeat. Through them, you would grow strong."

"Wait, wait. Did you make the entire game layer?"

"Yes, and designed it to give you an immense advantage; you have experienced the unbeatable power of exponential growth yourself. In any case, through her I designed a perfect challenge wherein you could only proceed through growing strong enough to slay a Giant Troll with Rosalyn, the first of your fated lovers."

"And if I failed...?"

"I simply bottled your soul, reversed time, and allowed you to try again. You are familiar with this, of course."

"Right. Okay, I get it, you wanted me to be stronger. But why the fated lovers? Are you an actual cuckquean?"

She gave her tinkly laugh. "To speak so boldly to the Supreme Goddess... Aaah, I hunger for you already. But I have waited long, and can wait longer. What you first must understand, Malcador, is that no one can create a world without putting a piece of themselves in everything."

"And the relevance of this is...?"

"A creator's soul is in everything they create, and so, as I created this world, there is a piece of me in every woman in the entire world. I cannot create them without doing so; it is fundamental to the nature of creation. You look upon the world, and you look upon me."

"Wait... Does that mean..."

Palutena nodded. "Yes. Just as I yearned for the perfect husband, so too did all the women of the world. They yearned for you as much as I did, and so each of your fated wives fell for you as hard as I would fall for you. No other man could hope to satisfy them."

"You're... You're the queen of the sluts. The Top Slut. The source of all sluttiness." I pointed in horror. "IT'S ALL YOU!"

The weight of that revelation sent me reeling. It was the answer behind the mystery that had antagonized me so greatly. If the love each of the Five had for me was pure and genuine, why the obsession? Why the insane lust? Why did torrents of love juice rain pour from their crotches at the sight of me? It had seemed insane, implausible, but it was all due to the Goddess. The world was made in her image, and so the women of her creation had the same slutty instincts as her. This entire time I had been debating whether their love was "true love" or "brainwashing", I had been missing a key piece of the puzzle: the women of this world were all made in the image of the biggest slut to ever live in any reality.

Their love really was true and pure, in any meaningful sense of the words, and it was just the nature of this world that girls be more slutty than I was used to. Could it be that all harem universes were like this? There was always a creator. Every world, real or fictional, was created by some force (sentient or otherwise). Were worlds created by horny, sentient forces doomed to be horny themselves, down to the fabric of reality? It all made sense now. You could hardly call something fake when it was a fundamental part of the world, and ultimately, their innate lust just fueled the spark of love that I had worked to cultivate on my own.

Palutena laughed, and licked her lips seductively. It both didn't fit her divine appearance, and also fit it perfectly. "Of course. I am the source of it all. My hunger fills the world."

I clasped my head between my hands. There was just so much to process. She was the Big Bad. The source of all evil, of all sluttiness. But... I couldn't bring myself to hate her. It was hard to hate a sexy green-haired goddess, I realized. Damn. She had really trapped me in her web.

"But you," she continued, "are not of this world. You did not naturally share my hunger. So, in addition to your physical training, I needed you to undergo mental training. Training to become the perfect husband; the husband of my dreams."

I looked up. "So you used Hilda."

"Ah, what a different life you would have lived here without her. A chaste life, perhaps; I could imagine you not losing your virginity until you gathered all of the Five and asked Rose to marry you. How quaint that would have been. Did you not find it abnormal how Hilda masturbated so religiously and pushed for sex so hungrily? I do not believe that is how women from your world behave."

"I just thought.."

She waved a hand. "Truth be told, Hilda desired it herself as well, to a degree. Her lust was enhanced by mine, as was the lust of all women, but it was only with my possession that she would have the courage to cross the line. The same goes for you, of course. You lusted for her, but would not cross the line until pushed. I do not begrudge you for it; the first time is always the hardest, and from there it is a slippery slope into a sex paradise."

The words sex paradise sliding between a goddess's lips felt so wrong, yet so right.

"And now..."

She nodded. "And now you are precisely as lustful as I wish for you to be, which is to say, extremely." She trembled gleefully. "Ah, the bed calls for me so strongly. I cannot wait to experience your wondrous cock in the flesh. Possession dulls the senses, naturally."

I looked down. I was getting pretty erect, to be fair. There were so many questions. So many mysteries. But it all came back to one fact of reality.

"All of this... This whole journey really existed just to mold me into a sex-addicted hunk, because you wanted to get fucked by a chad constantly...?"

"Of course. It was an experiment of Heir conditioning. If it sounds shallow to you, just ponder for a moment how many men and women from your world dream of exactly the same thing. It is possibly a universal wish, in a way. And," she continued with a smile, "I believe your strongest wish was to fuck a green-haired goddess." She spread out her arms. "Here I am."

"No... No. Tell me what happened to the Five. Where's Rose?!" She had put off answering, but I wouldn't wait any longer.

"I'm afraid their bodies and souls were necessary to give me life. But you don't need to pretend to care."

"Pretend...?"

"As you fell in love with them and the world, you fell in love with me. You were naturally inclined to do so from the start. And now..." She snapped her fingers, and a digital-looking bar appeared above her hand. I looked at the bar. It was black, with the following words written upon it:

Husband Name: Malcador

Love Points: 1000/1000

Love Cap Reached: True Love! He is now bound to you.

"And now, you love me more than anyone. More than anything. Your heart is mine." The goddess snapped her fingers again, and a fluffy bed appeared behind her as the bar faded. "It is time for me to make good on my promise."

"Your promise..."

"You have granted my wish by virtue of existing. Now, I will grant any wish you may have. Almost nothing is impossible for me. The world is your oyster. Simply say the words."

I closed my eyes and recalled my initial wish. I had stared at the dark ceiling in Koh'rin and thought to myself I would wish for Jeffrey to be given life again. To make right the one mistake I could never correct. But was that really my wish now?

I opened my eyes and looked at the Supreme Goddess. The source of all evil. The original slut. She radiated divine beauty from every inch of her body, with glowingly healthy skin, invitingly large breasts, and overall, an incredibly fuckable body. Perhaps the most fuckable body I had ever seen; it wasn't made for sex, but rather, it was the beautified ideal of what it meant to be sexy in the first place. The immoral spice added by her divine nature as the Supreme Goddess, one who protected her virginity for millennia until finding me, the perfect man, only made her more appealing. The way her sashes covered all the most important bits but left so much beautiful skin exposed helped.

I closed my eyes again, and looked deep inside. What was my greatest wish? I could wish for anything, and she was ready to grant any wish, but she was incredibly assured that my only wish would be her divine pussy. She was assured that now that I had reached the love cap for her and her world, I would have no choice but to wish to be her husband and nothing more. To forget everything but her. To live without the Five. If I got in bed with her now, she would probably put me under her direct control like Sauron before I could actually do anything.

I opened my eyes. Palutena was looking at me expectantly, a warm smile on her face. Sauron was giving an impassive look, his usual smirk nowhere to be seen. They were waiting.

This is your final test.

You have one minute.

Your solution must at least allow Malcador to evade becoming a passive fucktoy for the rest of his life,

despite being spiritually naked, holding only his erect dick, and facing Sauron

plus the fully resurrected Supreme Goddess.

Keep in mind the following:

1. Malcador must succeed via his own quick wit. The cavalry is not coming.

Everyone who might want to help Malcador is busy masturbating to the thought of him.

2. Malcador may only use capabilities the story has already shown him to have;

he cannot develop dick-extending magic to fuck the Goddess from afar in the next 60 seconds.

3. Palutena is a slut and cannot be persuaded to be chaste;

the Supreme Goddess's utility function cannot be changed by talking to her.

4. If Malcador makes his intent to rebel blatantly clear,

Sauron will be forced to hit him over the head with a mace.

5. It is impossible to tell blatant lies to the Supreme Goddess.

Her slut sense is too keen.

Within these constraints,

Malcador is allowed to attain his full potential as a harem protagonist,

now in this moment or never, regardless of his previous flaws.

I wish you all the best of luck, or rather the best of fuck.

Finally, I spoke.

"I want to fuck you," I said. Her smile broadened, and she opened her mouth to speak, but I continued before she could. "But if I'm going to have a wish, I might as well use it for something fun, right?"

Palutena nodded knowingly. "Of course, of course. What would you like, dear?"

"I've been curious about the saving and loading system ever since I first saw it locked. Could you unlock it for me?"

She paused, considering that, but her thoughts were interrupted as her eyes drifted down to the bulge in my pants. She rubbed her divine thighs together, and swiftly decided that every second spent pondering the risk of granting my wash was a second that could be spent fucking vigorously. As expected of the queen of all sluts.

"Certainly," she said, and waved a hand. "It is done."

"Load," I muttered, and a screen much like the Stats Screen popped up.

Saved Games Autosave 1 - Day 1 Autosave 2 - Day 8 Autosave 3 - Day 15 Autosave 4 - Day 22 Autosave 5 - Day 29

Five saves. The battlefield, the entrance to Koh'rin, the dwarf hold bedroom, the dwarf hold meeting room, and now, the temple, following the disintegration of the Five.

"Now," Palutena said, sitting on the bed and patting the space beside her. "Shall we begin?"

I looked at Sauron. The familiar smirk returned to his face, and he nodded.

"Load Autosave 1," I said.

I wasn't about to leave the loves of my life behind.