The dragon's harem

Arad’s void sparked when his mother rushed at him again. Even as a Nymph, he still could access his draconic powers, but against his mother, those were useless. He didn’t have that many options against her, and so he was only left with one. To rely on his beauty.

Alternatively, he could try finding what the weakness of her void is, but since many dragons failed, and it took his father months, he didn’t have that much of a chance of finding the weakness in the heat of battle.

Arad was fast; he moved at a speed that almost no one could match. The ground shattered after him, and his fists were engulfed with a dark trail of magic. He knew that his void was useless against his mother, so he would use it indirectly.

As he ran, his mother teleported in his way, looking at him with glowing purple eyes, and time seemed to slow to a halt. He smiled, and at that moment, he let all of his beauty loose. The world shuddered, and Violet’s eyes silently closed shut.

The air around her ignited into flames, and the ground melted, followed by Arad’s violent arrival. She didn’t just have to close her eyes, but even trying to perceive Arad through her other senses seemed to trigger his beauty. If she saw him, she would be blinded if she heard him, she would lose her hearing, and so on with all of her senses. This was on a whole other level compared to all other Nymphs, and so she had to be quite careful.

So how could she fight him if she couldn’t sense him in any shape, way, or form? Well, it was quite simple. If she can’t know where he is, she can know where he isn’t. By expanding her senses across the whole battlefield’s latent void, she could know exactly where Arad is.

But it was then that she froze and was immediately knocked to the ground with a drop kick. She tried to capture Arad, but all she caught was the empty air, and instead got kicked across the battlefield in the next moment.

As she stood back up, she burst laughing. “You’re smart, aren’t you?”

To avoid being detected or controlled by his mother’s void, Arad had decided on a bold strategy. He first locked all of his void magic and decided to fight her purely with what the Nymph had, even though he still had a faint hint of void magic, which he had to mask with the second tactic. That Second tactic was even simpler; he called upon his weakest void creatures, a swarm of crows, and spread them all across the battlefield, effectively confusing his mother’s senses by throwing a lot of noise into her radar.

With all of the void crows flying around her, Violet couldn’t tell which void spark among the thousands was that of her son, since they all felt the same. If she wanted to confirm, then she would have to rely on her normal senses, which would lead her to take a direct hit from his beauty.

This strategy was far too similar to how Alcott defeated her in the past, to the point that it made her smile. Those two are indeed a father and son.

As Arad’s attacks rained down on her, she couldn’t do anything but defend, take a defensive stance, and endure the hits while trying to figure out a way to predict which spark was that of her son. She was surrounded by a thousand crows, each pretending to be Arad and launching a swarm of feint attacks, only one of which was real.

She smiled, lifted both of her hands, and waited for the next attack. If she can’t predict his attacks, then all she has to do is react when he hits her. A moment later, Arad’s fist came flying toward her torso, hit her right in the solar plex, and her arms moved at lightning speed, smacking Arad right in the face and sending him flying back.

Even if Violet didn’t use her full strength, the sheer power of that punch was enough to cause a massive shockwave, rattle the ground, and send Arad flying faster than sound, and when he finally hit the ground, he dug a kilometre-long trench before coming to a halt.

Violet stood in silence for a second, and then coughed a mouthful of blood as her eyes started tearing blood, and her ears drums almost ruptured. “I see… I didn’t think of you using it that way.”

Void dragons communicate in the vacuum of space using telepathic waves. They can share words, images, thoughts, and feelings with each other with ease. At that last moment when his mother countered his last attack, Arad did show her an image of his Nymph self.

That alone was enough to gravely damage her mind and slow her down to a halt, the first real bit of damage that Arad was able to make through this whole fight. But this was where it ended, the last smack his mother delivered was probably a bit too much for him to handle, and he was unconscious on the ground.

The punch alone wasn’t what knocked Arad, but it was the violent reaction of his mother’s consciousness when he hit her with his beauty. Like touching a live wire, he got jolted back the moment he connected to her mind.

“Even went for my mind. Smart brat.” She growled, rubbed her eyes, then looked around. Arad’s beauty had turned off long ago, and he was unconscious for now.

“Merida, are you still around?” As she called, a demonic portal opened up in the ground and fungus bloomed from it as Merida emerged. “Did the fight end…” She looked around and saw Arad’s unconscious body. “Oh… you really knocked him out.”

Violet shook her head, rubbed her temples, and growled. “More like knocked himself out. Brat thought he could invade my mind and inject his beauty directly into my thoughts. I tell you that, it was like a child running straight at their parent’s legs trying to knock them down, only to end up breaking a tooth on their knee.”

She smiled. “He tried his father’s strategy, but it seemed he didn’t have the backbone to commit to it.” She tapped Merida’s shoulder. “In the past, when I first fought Alcott and lost, he used a peculiar strategy that exploited my draconic nature and void magic. He started the fight being quite insulting, didn’t leave a name he didn’t call me with, and even made claims about how he was going to use me later… so he got under my nerves quickly.”

Merida stared at her, “Dragons are arrogant, and they don’t take insults too well. So, I guess you tried to make him eat his words.”

Violet nodded. “Well, I wanted to enslave and humiliate him in front of all humans. But that was where my pride led me to defeat. He had implanted several mental traps inside his own mind. I won the physical fight with ease, but when I tried to enslave him, those mental traps jolted my mind instantly and temporarily knocked me out. At that time, he had several drugs implanted inside his back tooth that were set to release when the mental traps go on, so he woke up.”

“What…” Merida blinked, and Violet laughed. “I messed up badly that night. I ended up unconscious with all of my mental defences open, and he was standing right above my head, ready with several enslaving spells. I woke up as his slave, and he only released me on the condition that I explain everything to him. You see, Alcott was suspicious of that noble from the start, so he didn’t intend to kill me, he wanted to force me to explain myself.”

“So, Alcott pulled a fast one on you?” Merida laughed, and Violet shrugged. “Indeed, young Alcott was an absolute monster.” She giggled. “But I like the current Alcott more. He is older, wiser, more delicate, and smells more… like aged wine.”

She patted Merida on the shoulder. “Tell Arad that, besides the specific void weakness, all void dragons have a common weakness, and it is their mind. Even if it is very durable, it is still nowhere near as durable as their bodies.”

Merida looked toward Arad. “He can survive even if his entire body was destroyed, and that is thanks to his incarnations. But if his mind got injured badly enough, even he would fall and die.”

“That is it. The Nymph gives him an edge in those mental battles. So, make sure to tell him.” As she waved her hand and was leaving, Merida called her. “Where are you going? Can’t you wait and explain it to him better?”

“Remembering that night with Alcott got me a bit worked up, so I’m going back to him now. I’m pretty sure he is still having fun with Ginger.” She looked at Merida with a smile. “I’m sure you understand what I mean.”

Merida smiled and carried Arad. “Well, have fun then. Seeing how Gojo and Arad act, I can’t wait to see how they would react to a third younger brother.”