The hivemind is conquering for me? Chapter 910: Snipped?

Listening to what Rhapso said about the meeting I put on my pants and stood up before her.

She had removed her helmet and was looking up at me, clearly seeking praise for snitching on her own family to me. Instead I raised my hand and chopped the top of her head.

"Don’t go picking fights with your family because of me, both of you. You know how important family is to me and I don’t want you making bad blood with your own."

"But, Apollo! They were-"

"I know. They were asking questions about me. Questions about my past that you two know about. I appreciate you not blabbing, Ness I also don’t blame you for telling them about your conversation with Artemis, though I do wish I knew more about it first, I could have acted less weird around her, perhaps not mentioned her turning someone into a deer that one time... But oh well. Just, when you both next see your family, please apologise. Again, I don’t want hostilities, especially when I have been in your life so basically a spec of your existences."

The two Nymphs nodded in agreement and once that was out of the way, I raised Rhapso’s head to make her look up at me and planted a kiss on her forehead. "Though that all being said, sticking up for me was also very sweet, so thank you."

Rhapso started to giggle and Nerissa then changed the subject. "So... you and Sithrik. Did you, um..." The cute Nymph began to blush as Rhapso finished the question.

"Did you fuck? How was it?" She asked, looking towards Sithrik, who had passed out after they entered the room.

I laughed nervously. "I think I overdid it. Exploring new biology was... Exciting. I couldn’t stop pleasuring her. I didn’t even get my rocks off, I just focused on her. No actual sex, more a prelude of what’s to come in the future."

"Oh? You didn’t finish?" Rhapso asked, tilting her head to the side before looking at Nerissa and smiling connivingly.

" I’ll ask again then, would you like us to help?"

"Rhapso!" Nerissa scolded, but I interjected.

"No, that’s ok. If you two are back, I must have been torturing my poor snake for a while, we should probably get prepared to leave." I said and got up to look around. "Now where did I put my shirt?"

...

The two Nymphs looked at Sithrik sprawled out on the bed while Apollo began to search the room. The smile on the creature’s face as it slept, the fluids covering its upper torso and the bed and the slight spasming it was still having after all the time it took to explain to Apollo what happened.

The two Nymphs shared a thought, even if only one was bold enough to admit it if asked.

’I am so jelly.’

...

"Ah, Apollo, come in lad, come in." I heard from within the room.

Sigismund invited me to take the trip back to Euc 1 in his Syracusia. The ship was massive, around two thousand meters long. I just arrived on board from the personnel carrier when I was summoned.

Entering the room, Sigismund sat on a large throne, simply built, nothing gaudy with a bit of tech here and there, but it did add a great amount of gravitas to him just sitting there. He was currently surrounded by a collective of techno-mechanics as they were removing his armour.

"So son, Are you excited for the big parade and welcome when we get back to the Royal palace?" Sigismund asked, his face contorting into a smile that made one of the Mechanics stop working for a moment in fear.

I felt my blood run cold at the prospect of that so I replied truthfully. "That sounds dreadful."

"Haha! Tell me about it. Don’t worry, we will run off before Queen Elaine can find us and force us to participate in the ceremonies. We can drink some Psionic ale and pass the time with some of your escapades about the war, how does that sound?"

"I do like the Psionic stuff..." I admitted prompting Sigismund to laugh before the last pieces of his armour were removed. As he stood up a loose fitting toga was hastily placed around his body before walking down from his throne.

He then stopped a few feet away from me and asked. "Something wrong?"

I blinked, realising I was being rude and apologised. "Sorry, I just forgot you were shorter than me. You see a man balloon up to the size of a Drakoshi warlord, you tend to forget that. Wait, you were taller than me the last time we spoke though?"

"Aye, it’s your drug. It keeps me balanced and I end up around eight to nine feet. Without it I vary between 5ft11 and 6ft3. Depending on my mood. It’s also why I mostly wear togas when not in battle, less ripping of clothes. Now come on, I could do with a nice steam with company before I get my brain impaled by a metal spike."

...

We didn’t have to walk far, everything Sigismund might need during his voyages was no more than a few minutes away from his throne, probably one of the advantages of being king and all that.

We removed our clothing and wrapped our waists in towels before entering the scorching hot room.

"You don’t mind the heat, do you son? My body is rather impervious to harm, so I need the room extra hot to feel it."

"Nah, I’m a fire fucker with Thermokinesis. I’ll be fine." I said as I sat down.

Sigismund, who was already sitting down, slapped his knee hard and pointed at me. "That is right! You are a Pyrokinetic aren’t you? I almost forgot due to how level headed you are."

I shrugged my shoulders. "I am weird in my own ways, I just front pretty well."

Sigismund let out a throaty chuckle. "If you say so."

We sat in silence for a few minutes, enjoying the heat before my scientific curiosity got the better of me. "So, lobotomy huh? That’s got to feel weird."

Sigismund shrugged his shoulders. "Yeah, but I am used to it. My brain regenerates wounds so its only temporary. With your new meds I’ve not had one in a while, but Jocasta said to have one after the war, as a reset on my emotions and I trust that woman more than anyone alive or dead."

"Speaking about emotions, can I ask a question about your power?" I asked, Sigismund said nothing, but gestured to me to go ahead as he laid his head back.

"So, a while ago Hailey told me a bit about it, but I am curious to hear from the source. Is it true all your emotions are elevated to super human extent? Or is it just rage. Do you feel like you can control it most of the time? Or do you struggle with daily tasks that others would find trivial?"

Sigismund let out a sigh. "It’s a blessing and a curse, son. My rage is my primary source of power, because as king I have seen the hardships of my men. I have seen our empire bleed. But I also feel grief, despair. Sadness. Almost all my emotions tie back into my rage. The rage towards our enemies. It’s why people, like that Techno-mechanic back in the throne room, get scared when they see me smile. It is a rare emotion for me. I don’t find many people I get along with because I am so encompassed by my rage... Plus I didn’t help my current situation when I first became king, but I still don’t regret the decision."

"What do you mean?"

"Oh, come on lad. You must know the stories about me by now? About how I am missing a certain appendage? Honestly, I was a little surprised you didn’t take a look when we were changing, almost everyone does out of sheer curiosity if nothing else."

I hadn’t thought about that at all. "Oh, you really snipped? I thought you just took some chemicals or something to make you impotent."

Sigismund shook his head. "Thats what usually happens. The actual oath the Military king takes is a pledge of abstinence whenever on campaign, which is pretty much all the time. Lysander, my predecessor, actually had a kid of his own and took the chemicals to make him impotent when on campaign of his own free will. The oath is mostly symbolic.

However, when I took over... I had a bit of a bad reputation. My power had caused issues in the past with the military. I was strong, which is why I was elected and won, but I was liable to my own powers. Not just rage and anger, but also lust and the other distractions that came with having reproductive organs and superhuman emotion.

As a gesture of change and my dedication to the empire, I had them removed. To remove that temptation forever, as the chemicals could only do so much with my regeneration. Speaking of, let me tell you, making sure the crown jewels didn’t grow back was a rough few months of self mutilation before my body finally adapted and accepted the loss.

After that, people respected me for my ’sacrifice’ But I don’t see it that way. I was removing a blemish of my history. Sigismund was gone. King Sigismund replaced him, for the betterment of the empire. My Empire. For Spartari."