The dragon's harem

The elevator slowly went down. Tyal was standing alone on it, clad in her armor. All of her weapons are stored conveniently in a small tattoo engraved on the back of her hands and forearms. She can pull any of them at will.

The tattoos were black and took the shapes of her weapons: a long sword, a spear, a bow, knuckledusters, hooks, pikes, halberds, and even more.

Arad had seen many types of storage magic, but this was one of the strangest. It helps a fighter bind a weapon to their body and make it grow stronger with them. But in exchange, those weapons feel like parts of their body. If one of Tyal’s weapons breaks, she’ll feel the same pain as if she were to lose one of her limbs.

“Are you worried?” A voice called from Tyal’s chest, and she looked down at the pendant she was wearing. “Of course I’m worried. Not everyone is as collected as you, Arad.”

“Huh, I’ll keep that in mind.” Arad laughed, “But you also should keep it in mind. If things got bad, I’ll take your place.” The pendant opened out, and Arad crawled out. He climbed up her armor and looked out over her gorget.

Arad had sent one of his incarnations down with her. If anything bad happened, he’ll suck her into his stomach and take her place, wearing her armor while using [Virgo] to make it fit. Since none could see her face behind her helmet, none would be the wiser.

The elevator hit the ground and came to a jarring halt. The floor beneath her feet shook, and when she jumped down, her legs sank knee-deep into the soft snow.

Tyal stood in silence for a while, looked around her, and then whistled. Her massive lightning tiger jumped down from the plateau and landed beside her, huffing as he rubbed his head on her shoulder.

She rubbed the big cat’s head and jumped on the tiger’s back. “Come on, time to go.”

The tiger rushed forward, plowing through the snow like a bulldozer as they braved the snowstorm. A whole hour later, they finally arrived.

The tiger stopped, and Tyal jumped down from its back.

Several hundred meters away, Arad and Tyal could see her. The Cronos Raptur, Zenia. A tall huntress in tattered light armor with frozen blue skin, ghostly, dead eyes, and flowing golden hair that seemed to be falling off her scalp. A walking corpse, barely preserved thanks to the cold and snow.

Tyal ground her teeth, “Zenia.” The wind around her started blowing, and the snow melted. Soon, two daggers appeared in Tyal’s hands, and the Cronos Raptur stopped moving and looked at her.

“I doubt you can understand words, but it’s been a long time, Zenia. I came to put you to rest.” Tyal stepped forward, and lightning started crackling around Zenia’s body.

The Cronos Raptur didn’t reply.

Silence fell for a second as if time itself stopped. The storm halted, and the wind grew still as the two glared at each other. And in the next moment, all hell broke loose.

Tyal exploded into movement, rushing at Zenia at blinding speed. Zenia’s speed was just as harrowing. She evaded Tyal’s tackle and turned around to block the second attack.

Those Titans were moving at a speed that a creature their size shouldn’t be moving at. Their massive and heavy bodies crossed hundreds of meters in a fraction of a second, and each blow held enough power to shake the world.

Tyal turned around and swung her dagger down, trying to stab Zenia in the shoulder.

Zenia might’ve started a bit sluggish, just trying to defend herself for the first second, but now she also switched to attack. Instead of trying to block Tyal’s attack, she threw a reckless kick backward, sending the Titan princess flying back.

The faster Tyal attacked, the faster Zenia retaliated. Soon the two were entwined in a storm of lightning, howling wings, steel, violence, and blood.

Tyal rolled away on the snow, painting it red, and the cracked daggers melted back into tattoos on her forearms. “Should’ve guessed, you’ve always been faster than me.” She barely managed to stand, shaking like a newborn goat.

Zenia took a stance and bent down. Lightning crackled from her back, and sparks rolled down her legs. The moment Tyal saw her, she gasped. “Ah, shit…” But before she could dodge, Zenia burst forward like a lightning bolt and punched her in the face with enough strength to send her flying back with a shockwave.

Zenia then noticed something strange: silver chains were wrapped around her neck and back.

Tyal came to a halt and smiled, coughing a mouthful of blood. “But I’ve always been stronger!” She pulled on the chains and started swinging Zenia around like a ball, then smacked her to the ground.

Before Zenia could stand, Tyal was already upon her, thrusting her spear.

Zenia didn’t bother dodging the attack and let Tyal stab her. She then discharged a powerful surge of lightning through the spear, jolting Tyal and forcing her to retreat.

As the burned Tyal rolled away, Zenia stood, pulled the spear out of her stomach, and shattered it. Tyal fell to her knees and growled in pain. Losing the spear felt like one of her legs got ripped off. It hurt so badly, but… she ground her teeth and stood.

The gaping wound in Zenia’s stomach was already healing. Her eyes flashed with magic, and Tyal giggled.

At first, Zenia only used her lightning magic. Now, she is trying to use Tyal’s wind magic. Her physical strength is rising, and the battle is shifting in the monster’s favor.

If Tyal wanted to win this, she had to take big risks. If she doesn’t finish this monster with one big attack, it’ll keep regenerating and growing stronger.

She has one attack that could do the job, but if she missed, Zenia would probably take that big opening and finish her off.

Tyal smiled, “Arad, do you love gambling?”

“What are you planning?” He asked, and she giggled, “What? Gamble, one last attack.”