[The Forbidden Path]

[Description: A master who wants to form a different kind of bond with her student. You have fallen for Dante and refused to let go. The system was designed to strengthen the bond between you and him, but the bond you are choosing goes far beyond the boundaries of your relationship.]

[Warning: This path cannot be undone once accepted. Accepting this will permanently alter the nature of your missions.]

[Do you wish to walk The Forbidden Path?]

[Yes / No]

"Yes." Natasha wiped her face with the back of her hand. Her eyes were red and swollen but the woman who had been crying on the floor a few minutes ago was gone.

[That’s the spirit!]

"Can I ask you something?" Natasha had a hesitant look on her face.

[What? Regretting it already?]

"No, it’s just..." She paused. "I have feelings for Dante. But I know he only likes Emma right now. Do you think he would ever like an old woman like me?" She had made her decision, but she was far behind Emma in the race. She couldn’t help but lack confidence.

[Are you serious right now? Did you already forget how hard he was for you during the body wipe mission?]

"T-that was just a physical reaction..."

Before she could finish, the system spoke again.

[You don’t seriously think you can close the gap of years Emma has with Dante the normal way, right? Before you could even get close, those two will be married with kids that call you grandma.]

"Okay okay, stop saying unpleasant things and just tell me how I can make Dante fall for me."

[Your body. The fact that Dante reacted to your body means he doesn’t see you as just his master. It’s your single biggest advantage over Emma and the most effective one.]

"I-is that what you meant by altering the nature of my missions?" Natasha felt a jolt run through her body after realizing what she would be doing in the future.

She didn’t think badly of it.

After all, she was also first attracted to his body and their current relationship made any normal romantic development nearly impossible.

[Of course. I hope you are ready for what’s coming. You can’t back out like before.]

After that, there were no more messages from the system.

Natasha took a deep breath and collected her thoughts before pressing her hand against the door and pushing herself to her feet.

She walked up to the mirror and looked at herself.

Her face was stained with tears, her eyes were swollen, and her hair was a mess. She looked like a disaster. But her eyes were looking at something else.

The only weapon in her arsenal. Her body.

"It’s really fortunate I kept maintaining my appearance with mana even when my realm was crippled." Natasha had a relieved smile on her face as she looked herself over like she was seeing her own body for the first time.

And in a way, she was. 𝒇𝒓𝙚𝒆𝔀𝓮𝓫𝒏𝓸𝙫𝓮𝓵.𝓬𝙤𝙢

This was the first time she was looking at herself as a woman sizing up her own chances against another woman.

"Emma, I hope you don’t hate the Master too much for cheating." She spoke with a confident smile as she grabbed her breasts with both hands, cupping their softness and weighing them before letting them fall with a soft jiggle.

’I won’t step aside for anyone this time.’ She grinned, reaching back to grab her perky ass and squeezing it firmly.

***

Inside his room, Dante swallowed hard after watching her through the feed.

A grin slowly formed on his face as his gamble worked even better than he had imagined.

"I have to thank Emma for this. If it weren’t for her, it would have taken months for Master to reach this stage." He was already getting hard just thinking about all the erotic missions he could assign to Natasha from now on.

Right after Natasha had left the room earlier, Dante quickly finished the soup and sent Emma back, telling her he wanted to rest. The moment he opened the feed, Natasha was already on the floor, crying.

Dante looked at the notification tab. There were more than twenty notifications waiting for him.

But he still had one more thing to do before that.

He walked up to the mirror with a serious expression and threw a full-strength punch at his own face.

Bang!

’No. One isn’t enough.’ He stumbled sideways and almost went down, but he gritted his teeth and threw another punch at the other side.

Bang!

His legs gave out and he hit the floor, breathing heavily.

He hadn’t forgotten the promise he made to himself. That he would punch himself in the face for what he did to her.

In the end, one simply wasn’t enough. He had to do it twice.

He raised his hand and wiped the blood running from his nose. "Fuck, that hurts. I am never pulling my punches on anyone from now on."

He grimaced as he opened the notification tab and a flood of messages greeted him instantly.

[Natasha’s favorability is on the rise!]

[Natasha’s favorability has increased by 1]

[Total Favorability: 51 (Crush)]

[Natasha’s favorability has increased by 1]

[Total Favorability: 52 (Crush)]

[Natasha’s favorability has increased by 1]

[Total Favorability: 53 (Crush)]

[Natasha’s favorability has increased by 1]

[Total Favorability: 54 (Crush)]

[Natasha’s favorability has increased by 1]

[Total Favorability: 55 (Crush)]

’51, 52, 53, 54, 55.’ Dante scrolled through the notifications with a growing smile, counting each one even though the total was right there on the screen.

[Natasha’s favorability has increased by 2]

[Total Favorability: 57 (Crush)]

[Natasha’s favorability has increased by 2]

[Total Favorability: 59 (Crush)]

’Come on. Come on. One more.’

[Natasha’s favorability has increased by 1]

[Total Favorability: 60(Affection)]

"Hell yeah! I did it!" Dante pumped his fist with a grin so wide every tooth was showing.

But it wasn’t over. There were more favorability notifications after that.

Gulp

"Just how much did it increase?" He scrolled through the rest quickly, rushing past them after confirming it had crossed 60.

A few seconds later, Dante had a stunned look on his face as he saw the final number.

"Holy..."

[Total Favorability: 66]