The dragon's harem

With Mathilde and Diana busy searching for Euri, Arad could finally focus on other things, mainly, meeting the Chromatic queen. A pillar of rainbow light descended from the clouds, carving a path that crossed the sky. Arad looked at it for a moment and then turned to Ignis.

“This is her magic?”

Ignis nodded, “Yes, our queen controls every element. Touch the red light and you’ll get burned.” He approached the road, “Walking on this road means to stand right on the queen’s magic. This is the edge of her blade.”

He flew forward and landed on the rainbow, “See? I’m still alive, I can touch the rainbow without getting killed because the queen won’t let her magic harm me.”

“It is to show the queen that you trust her.” Denki looked at Arad, “We should cross it. Flying straight up would mean we’re up to no good.”

Arad looked at the rainbow with a frown, but he didn’t have much time to think since, at that moment, something strange happened. The sun became several hundred times brighter. Rainbows fell from the sky, and a bright, radiant flash burst behind him, blinding everyone.

Everyone was forced to cover their faces to protect their eyes, except Arad, who looked back with a tired face. He could already feel something standing on his shoulder, and someone standing right between his wives.

“What are you doing here?” Arad asked, and a voice replied almost immediately.

“How lovely, you aren’t even flinching. I felt like letting you face that queen alone would be a waste, so I decided to come as well. With my sweet granddaughter.”

Luminous was standing among his wives, and Betty was on his shoulder, both of them engulfed in so much radiant light that their mere presence was painful to endure.

“Who?! ARE YOU!” Ignis growled, and the next thing he heard was the sound of claws hitting the ground. Soon, he found himself upside down, sprawled on the ground with his whole body burned by the light.

“Luminous, the radiant one. You’re too young to know me.” She took a step forward and vanished into Arad’s stomach.

As the blinding light faded away, everyone could slowly regain their sight. The first thing they noticed was that the rainbow bridge had disappeared, washed away by Luminous’s oppressive light.

“Lu-luminous?” Ignis growled. She had left the kingdom long before he was even born. But he had read about her in ancient texts and scrolls.

“The queen’s first daughter?” He looked around with a surprised face, his red scales already sunburned to the point they were almost falling.

“As it turned out.” Betty nodded as she saw on Arad’s shoulder. With how massive he was, it was almost hard to notice her.

Betty looked at Arad, “Grandma had a fight with her mother a few thousand years ago, left, and never went back. Now, she is going home.”

Arad’s massive purple eye shifted, looking at her, “Using me as a carriage?”

“She can just fly there, but you saw how blinding she was. She appeared for just a few seconds, and you saw what happened: that poor dragon burned.” Betty smiled, “Don’t worry, she did manage to protect your wives.”

As Betty said, Arad’s wives behind him were unharmed, except that their eyes still didn’t recover from getting flashbanged in the face.

Arad then looked at the sky, “So? How are we getting up? Luminous wiped that rainbow bridge with her light.”

“Of course, we’re walking up. Just go ahead, she’ll light a path from inside your stomach.” Arad looked at the endless fall in front of him, sighed, and took a step forward. Radiant light seeped from beneath his claws and solidified into a golden path. It was a strange scene, seeing the dark and tenebrous tendrils of Arad’s void dancing among the rays of Luminous’s light.

Ignis looked at Arad carving a new path and sighed, “As expected from the queen’s daughter, she too can carve a path.” He then looked back at Balina and sighed again.

“OI! Are you saying that I’m useless?!” Balina growled at him. She could feel it in her bones; he was disappointed. But could he blame her? She was just a pink drakaina, a soap dragon that breathes bubbles! Luminous is an Elder Light drakaina. She can move at the speed of light, blast lasers, and is rumored to be able to punch so hard that the world would just vanish.

As Arad walked and everyone followed him, he was talking with Luminous inside his head.

^Why did you decide to visit now?^

She giggled inside his head, and he could feel that her reason couldn’t be anything good.

^Mother, like me, controls a form of light. I want to know how she could keep that radiant light of hers under control. I’ve spent thousands of years trying to figure out a solution, but I’ve only faced failure. But now, I suspect that it isn’t in my blood to be able to control that light.^

She lifted her head, the light coming out of her body illuminating Arad’s whole stomach like a radiant sun, causing all of the vampires in his small world to hide and cover their eyes.

^My answer, Betty’s answer, lies in her blood. The drakaina that gave birth to us all! If I don’t rob that answer from her, I’m certain Betty will suffer just as much as I did.^ She moved, ^Your powers, I need them to soak her light, to allow me a chance to reach her.^

Arad nodded. ^So, you’re using Betty to bait me into helping you? And my role is that of a meat shield against Lola… So, you’re going to fight her?^

Luminous smiled.

^First, Betty was the bait. You already took the bite. Second, you’re not a meat shield, you’re a void shield. And lastly, I’m not going to fight her, just make her bleed a bit and run away with that blood.^

Arad sighed. He can’t stop Luminous; he isn’t powerful enough to keep her in check, so all he can do is find a way to keep his wives and himself safe.

The dragons living on the Star Mountain looked up, seeing Arad ascending toward the Rainbow Mountain of their queen, and he looked horrifying. A jet-black dragon engulfed by shadowy black tendrils of mist and strands of radiant golden light, painting a jagged path of pure white brilliance.

The dragons rarely feel fear, but today, many of them, especially those who had eggs nearby, took them and flew away to safer places. Because one thing was clear, if a dragon was powerful enough to destroy the queen’s rainbow bridge, they were powerful enough to fight her.

None of them knows what will happen when the queen clashes with that black dragon, but they were certain of one thing: this mountain might get wiped out.

That’s why after storing their eggs away, they all returned, armed and ready for one last stand. Not to protect the queen, but to rob the throne from the winner. Right now, like a swarm of wasps, hundreds of thousands of powerful dragons swirled and buzzed beneath the rainbow mountain, waiting for the clash. Once the fight ends, the winner is bound to be weakened and wounded, and that’s when they’ll strike.