My Scumbag System Chapter 523: The Queen’s War Council

Cel cleared her throat delicately, which was her polite way of saying everyone was being overly dramatic. "May I suggest a tactical approach that doesn’t rely entirely on psychological warfare? Reyna’s marionettes are electrical constructs, which means they operate on electromagnetic principles. Natalia, your Cryo-Lich Ring can freeze energy flows. Have you considered targeting the marionettes themselves instead of Reyna?"

Natalia blinked, her mind immediately racing through the implications. "The Ring can freeze Aspect energy?"

"The Ring regulates mana flow," Cel corrected gently, her voice carrying the patient tone of someone who’d been taught by the most ruthless woman in Valoria. "Which includes external energy constructs if you channel it properly. Seraphina taught me the technique when I was fourteen, though I never had reason to use it against electrical Aspects specifically."

Emi bounced excitedly on the bench, her healing aura flaring brighter with enthusiasm. "Oh! And if Natalia freezes the marionettes, they’ll shatter when Reyna tries to move them, right? Like ice breaking under pressure?"

"Precisely." Cel’s smile held the edge of someone who’d grown up watching her sister dismantle enemies with nothing but words and surgical planning.

Skylar made an impressed noise, low and appreciative. "Princess actually knows combat theory. Who knew."

Cel’s smile turned genuinely dangerous, all teeth and hidden blades. "I was raised by the most ruthless woman in Valoria. Of course I know combat theory."

Natalia felt something warm bloom in her chest, unfurling like a flower finding sunlight. This was what Satori had built, she realized. Not just a collection of powerful women competing for his attention like prizes to be won, but an actual team that could coordinate and strategize together. Five completely different people who should have hated each other’s guts, working in perfect sync because they’d all chosen the same impossible man.

The irony wasn’t lost on her. The scumbag who manipulated everyone had somehow created the most genuine bonds she’d ever experienced.

"Alright," Natalia said, pulling up a blank tactical board on her phone. "Here’s what we’re going to do."

She sketched quickly, her telekinesis moving the digital pen across the screen faster than her fingers could have managed, lines appearing and disappearing as she refined the strategy in real time. "Skylar opens with smoke. Reyna will expect an attack from inside the cloud, so she’ll create defensive marionettes facing inward."

"But I’m not in the cloud," Skylar finished, nodding with the kind of grim satisfaction that came from understanding elegant violence. "I’m already behind her by the time she realizes you are the smoke."

"I freeze her marionettes while they’re distracted by the illusion. The ice spreads through their electrical circuits and locks them in place, overloading their energy matrix. Then you—"

"Stick her in the kidney and make her really wish she’d stayed home today."

Cel frowned slightly, her perfect features marred by concern. "That’s extremely risky. If Reyna adapts before Natalia completes the freeze, you’re both exposed in the open."

"Then we adapt faster," Natalia replied with the kind of confidence she didn’t entirely feel.

"Natalia—"

"Cel." Natalia turned, meeting those concerned periwinkle eyes directly. "I appreciate the worry. I do. But I’m not some delicate princess who needs protecting from the harsh realities of combat. I’m the girl who Rank Ten bonded with a scumbag System user because I’d rather burn beside him than freeze alone in my perfect ice palace."

The words came out harsher than intended, edged with the kind of desperate conviction that made everyone in the room take a step back. Emi made another small distressed sound, and Natalia realized she was scaring the healer again.

She forced herself to breathe. In through the nose, count to four. Out through the mouth, count to six. The meditation techniques her father had drilled into her since childhood, back when her biggest worry was controlling her temper during sparring matches rather than controlling her power during life-or-death situations.

"Sorry," she muttered, though apologies still felt foreign on her tongue. "I’m just—"

"Terrified," Akari supplied helpfully, examining the perfect oval of her nails like they held secrets. "Which is completely reasonable when fighting someone who could legitimately kill you if the safety protocols fail."

"I’m not terrified."

"Your hair is literally glowing right now. The white streaks. They only do that when you’re either extremely emotional or about to commit murder." Akari’s emerald eyes flicked up, sharp and knowing. "So which is it?"

Natalia touched her hair reflexively, fingers encountering the familiar texture of the platinum streaks that had appeared after her Bond with Satori deepened. They pulsed with faint light beneath her touch, betraying every emotion she was trying to hide.

Damn it.

"I’m concerned," she admitted, which was as close to vulnerability as she’d allow herself in front of the others. "Reyna’s fast. Faster than me, probably. Her Aspect directly counters mine since electricity can arc around ice barriers. And she’s going to be angry after Satori absorbed her entire lightning assault like it was a fun afternoon snack."

The memory of that moment still made her stomach flutter. Satori standing there like lightning couldn’t touch him, like Reyna’s most devastating attack was nothing more than a mild inconvenience. The sheer audacity of it had been simultaneously terrifying and arousing in ways she didn’t want to examine too closely.

"So you’re playing defense," Skylar said, her voice flat and matter-of-fact. "Let her waste energy trying to break through your ice while I dismantle her from the shadows. When she’s exhausted and confused, you hit her with everything at once."

"That could take too long. The match has a thirty-minute time limit."

"Then we make her angry enough to get sloppy before the timer becomes an issue."

Natalia’s smile returned, cold and sharp as frozen steel. "You know exactly how to make her angry."

"I know how to make everyone angry. It’s a gift." Skylar’s own smile held the edge of someone who’d perfected cruelty as an art form.

Emi stood suddenly, startling everyone by the sheer abruptness of the movement. Her sapphire eyes had gone hard in a way Natalia had only seen once before, when a D-Rank monster had tried to grab her in a Gate and Emi had threatened to heal the thing’s brain into overgrowing through its skull.

"You’re both going to win," Emi stated, her voice carrying absolute conviction that brooked no argument. "Because if you don’t, I’m going to march down there and heal you both so you can go fight again until you do win. And that would be embarrassing for everyone involved."