The dragon's harem

The Cronos Raptur halted for a second, unable to identify the person standing before him. With Arad’s whole body covered in armor, using void presence made it impossible to track who was inside.

To make sure the Titans don’t get suspicious, he asked Tyal, who was inside his stomach healing with potion, to release her magic passively so he could use that to mask his own weather magic.

It is complicated, but thankfully, he only needed the weather magic to block the titan’s vision and allow him to fight Zenia in peace.

Before Zenia, the Cronos Raptur could understand that the switch-up happened. Arad punched her in the face, chest, stomach, and then kicked her away in a fraction of a second.

Zenia was a Martial Master and a living legend in hand-to-hand combat. Her skills were unmatched. It was Zeus who trained her, but that wasn’t the limit of her abilities. But if she were to be compared to humans and elves in terms of skill alone, she’d far outclass everyone else.

Zenia’s core skill that allowed her to reach such a level in hand-to-hand combat was using her lightning magic to deliver signals from her brain to her muscles at lightning speed, far faster than what mere nerves could achieve.

Anything having to do with nerves happened almost instantly. While a normal nerve signal can clear a 0.3 meter (Around a foot) in 0.04 seconds, Zenia’s electric signals can clear that distance in less than 0.000000001 seconds.

She almost has no reaction delay… so why…

Arad dodged her kick, grabbed her by the hair, and spun her around like a doll. And before she could even realise it, she was already flying to the ground having eaten a drop kick to the chest.

She didn’t even have time to think or understand that Tyal had been changed for another being. This sudden shift it had surpassed all of her expectations.

She tried to predict when the next attack would come and how it would come, but failed. She expected a punch and got a kick instead, expected a kick, and got locked in a bear hug.

After just a fraction of a second from Arad’s joining the fight, the Cronos Raptur had determined that whatever changed Tyal so much, it wasn’t something that Zenia could deal with. Even with legendary skills already being forced past her limits, she was still far lacking.

The Cronos Raptur took direct control of Zenia’s body and activated its time skills. Looking into the near future to see what the next attacks would be. This was the same ability that a Seer like Haru would have.

While most fighters train for decades to learn how to predict their opponent, using this ability takes all the guesswork out of the equation.

It can see the literal future, exposing the opponent’s attacks like an open book.

CRACK!

So why was it still getting thrown around like a kid on a rampaging bull?

Arad noticed a shift in Zenia’s moves, but it wasn’t much of a problem. He only needed to shift his moves a bit, and smack her around a bit harder, a bit faster, and a bit more.

Three seconds after Arad switched with Tyal, it was only now that the Cronos Raptur concluded that someone else must’ve taken Tyal’s place. No mortal should be able to move like that, defying both the world and fate.

Some of Arad’s attacks were inevitable, even if the Cronos Raptur saw them coming, he wasn’t able to do anything since Arad had already blocked all of his options.

But some of Arad’s attacks were just bizarre. The Cronos Raptur would see a hundred futures all existing simultaneously. Arad’s punch would turn into an elbow hit, a headbutt, a hug, or a kick based on how he would move.

On the fourth second, the Cronos Raptur decided it had no chance against Arad in hand-to-hand combat. Whatever it was that took Tyal’s place, it was a horror that even he didn’t dare face this close.

The only option was simple. If something is this good at one thing, it has to be bad at other things. If Arad is good at hand-to-hand combat, then it’ll shift the battle into a long-ranged spell-flinging death match.

Lightning magic is one of the fastest spells the world allows. Zenia had to have the advantage in that department. And with that, on the fifth second after Arad showed up, the Cornos Raptur charged lightning in its hand to create an explosion to get some distance.

Arad’s hand slithered through Zenia’s defenses, grabbed the forming lightning, and shattered it like glass. As it turned out, Arad’s void is a powerful insulator, and his barriers are just as capable at breaking lightning apart.

The Cronos Raptur had seen that happen in the future, but it was still shocked when it happened in the present.

Arad’s assault stopped, and it took the Cronos Raptur a fraction of a second to notice it. Arad just stood there, allowing it to get some distance. It didn’t miss the change and flew back as fast as Zenia’s body could. She turned into lightning and bolted away, covering a whole kilometer in a fraction of a second.

But while Zenia had moved a great distance, the distance between her and Arad remained the same. He still stood just several meters away from her.

It didn’t make sense.

Zenia kept running, trying to get some distance, but she never managed to get away from Arad. Like the inevitable grim reaper, he was always breathing down her neck. The Cronos Raptur even entertained the thought that Arad might be just an illusion.

“Strange.” A feminine, deep voice charged with magic rumbled from behind Tyal’s visor. “Where does that silver thread lead?”

From Tyal’s stomach, where her belly button should be, a long, silver thread that looked like an umbilical cord was floating out and disappearing into the depth of the chasm.

The moment the Cronos Raptur heard that, it became certain that Tyal must’ve sacrificed her body and soul to summon some ancient devil or god to fight him. She might’ve summoned the Devil herself from the ninth circle of hell. It won’t be surprising if the one wearing Tyal’s armor now was Asmodeus or, god forbid, Death herself.

But now the Cronos Raptur had time to make sure that the one wearing Tyal’s armor wasn’t a Storm Titan, so it could take over their bodies. No, it has a feeling, no, it was certain that trying to take the body of whatever is behind that visor is a mistake.

With that, the Cronos Raptur decided to cut its losses and run away. It gave up on Zenia’s body and cut contact immediately. Arad could see the umbilical cord floating away, and he knew that he had to chase it.