The dragon's harem

On the other side of the capital, more wizards were still fighting. Since this city was new and growing, many wizards had come here hoping to establish themselves either as talented mages offering their service to the people, like enchanting weapons and tools, or as advisors to noble families, and some even wanted to buy some land and build their towers.

There were a lot of wizards around, and so many of them turned out to be whatever Yog called red wizards, those who she saw commit heinous crimes. She didn’t want those people getting any stronger in the coming shift of mana, so she had started a war to kill them all before that.

Yog had one rule she forced upon everyone, including herself, and that was freedom. Even though she has the power to control all magic and kill those wizards or even stop them before they commit crimes, she wasn’t going to rob them of their free will. That’s why she let her relatively good wizards deal with the bad ones.

That was working well, but not well enough to satisfy Arad, who had to protect his farms and pastures from their unhinged madness. A wizard, in front of Arad’s eyes, didn’t check if they were in a wheat field, didn’t check if all the farmers were away and safe, didn’t check for animals, wind, or anything; instead, they just cast Fireball.

Of course, Arad killed them before their spell could burn anything.

Inside a relatively normal-looking roadside inn, an old woman stood, pointed her staff forward as she was confronted by two wizards, and shouted.

[Thunderclap]

Light flashed from her hands, illuminating the entire room for a fraction of a second as her magic charged and was about to explode into a thundering shockwave, catching all of the current patrons of the inn in its mess.

But then, her hands fell to the ground, severed and engulfed in blood. She gasped, looking with a terrified face as a voice spoke behind her, among the patrons. “Aren’t you a rude hag, shouting while everyone is busy enjoying their meal?”

The old hag slowly turned around, and she could see her, a tall woman in fullplate armor, with long brown hair, glowing golden eyes, and an emotionless face that felt as cold as steel. “Who… are you?”

As the hag gasped, her head fell off her shoulders, and soon her entire body was dissected into cubes. The wizards there cried, the regular people screamed and ran out of the dining room, and the owner hid behind his counter.

The woman silently finished her food alone and then approached the counter, where the terrified owner had waited long enough. “Thanks for the meal, I’ll come back later.” She dropped him a gold coin. “This is for the cleaning costs.”

As she was leaving, the owner stood and shouted. “Who are you?”

She stopped, looked back at him, and then turned around to leave. “No one important, just a wandering drakaina.” As she took another step, she disappeared. She appeared in front of Amaterasu’s church, and Yog was there to greet her.

“Mary! What is the metallic queen doing here, out of all places? Did you miss me that much?” She flew and landed on her shoulder, prompting Mary to stare at her. “Not really, Lola keeps me company ever since Cain went mad. I came here about this wizard war; you should’ve told me beforehand before declaring such a thing.”

Yog smiled. “Come inside, we’re having a lot of fun here, and you’re welcome. I’ll explain as we go.” As the two went inside, other people were meeting in the local pub.

Arad sat on a table, barely fitting in the human-sized chair, and his tights were enough to lift the table a bit. He had to consciously keep them tucked down, otherwise he would spill all the drinks.

“What in the actual fuck?” The white-haired, shifty rogue exclaimed with a confused face as he leaned back on his chair. “How come you have bigger tits than most women in the world?!”

“Big muscles beneath them.” Arad replied as he smiled, and Jack shrugged. “I guess it takes a real man to become the best girl.” He leaned forward with a chuckle. “So, what is actually going on?”

“Short version, a wizard’s war right on our doors. Kill the ones with red aura, help everyone else. That halfling started it, so we can’t do anything but play along.” As Arad explained, Jack sipped on his drink and then pointed a finger at Arad. “Can’t you just target them all with your elemental expansion and selectively kill those red wizards?”

“I can, it would be easy and quick. But those are wizards we’re dealing with, and I’m not talking about the red ones. The other wizards would eventually notice and start trying to investigate the sudden mass death of the red wizards.” Arad sighed, “I talked with Isdis about it, and she said it was a bad idea. If I did that, the people would start thinking I’m some kind of tyrant who kills anyone who speaks against me.”

Jack nodded. “Indeed, people fear that kind of power.” He looked at Arad, “I can understand that. How about we look at another solution? We can’t let those wizards rampage across the land as they please.”

“So…” Arad looked at him. “What kind of solution are we talking about?”

Jack emptied his mug and looked at Arad’s eyes. “A higher power, something that is above both you and the people, something mortals shouldn’t be able to handle, understand, or control.” He pointed at Arad’s hands, “Even though I’m sure you can shove those fists in the chest of most gods and rip their hearts out, we can just pretend you can’t do that.”

“A disease, a god, a subtle demon or devil, or even an ancient curse that no one can understand.” He poured himself more beer.

Arad looked at his mug. “So, ask Claug, Amaterasu, or Eris, Kali, or get help from hell.” He smiled, “It would make sense to blame it on some fictional wizard that cursed the war and summoned a devil to curse all red wizards.”

“Indeed, but keep in mind that we’re dealing with wizards. They can understand many things, and they aren’t going to be fooled by an archdevil or a greater demon.” Jack sighed, “Besides bards, they are the most notorious for doing things they aren’t supposed to do.”

“Someone good at dealing with wizards, someone not from the mortal world, someone powerful… Besides Kali, I can’t think of anyone.” As Arad looked at Jack, he was faced with a smile. “Well, that someone is inside you right now. I’m talking about the abomination called Damnation. She is already infamous for the Volcanic Titan’s disaster, so it won’t be strange for her to show up again like an undying daemon of pure damnation.”

“That might work.”