The dragon's harem

As Arad walked into the dark sanctum, he could see the Saint kneeling in front of Eris’s statue and praying alone in the pitch-black darkness.

The entire sanctum was basically empty. There wasn’t a single window on the walls, nor a single piece of furniture beside the large statue. To be honest, it looked unfinished. He took a few steps forward, making sure to make noise so the Saint knew he was here.

It was terrifying as Arad could move silently and while fully camouflaged like all other dragons. Darkness was his friend, and here, he could’ve probably stood right in front of the saint without her knowing he was here.

The Saint twitched a bit as she heard him approaching, and slowly stood up. “So, it was your Majesty.”

Arad stopped walking and looked at her. Even in the pitch-black darkness, he could clearly tell that she was by no means weak, relative to other humans. Her height, frame, the way she stood, and the oppressive confidence, even at the heart of pure darkness.

“Eris called me here to help, but didn’t tell me how.” He replied and rested his fists on his hips. “So, who is going to explain, you or her?”

Her white robe started burning with black flames as she turned around, and Arad gasped. The woman was blind. Her eyes were covered by a blindfold, but he could tell that both of her eyes were gouged out.

“It is a trial by combat. I’ve already cut my own flesh, I’ve already taken lives, and I’m only an inch away from Murder.” The black flames burning her body solidified into a black suit of full plate armor, and in her palm, a massive bastard sword of pure obsidian emerged.

“If I gain your approval, I’ll be accepted as the first-born angel of murder. But if I fail, I’ll remain on this mortal land as a slayer.” Hearing her words, Arad smiled. Looking at his current size, he wasn’t much taller than her, but that worked fine.

“So, I’ll just have to kill you.” He extended his arm and summoned a long sword that he had hidden inside his stomach for a while. It was a mundane weapon with nothing special; in fact, he was sure he had picked it up from a random bandit somewhere.

The essence of this trial was simple. If the Saint can draw enough power from Eris to impress Arad, then she is both strong and faithful enough to ascend, but if she can’t, that is where her limit ends. Technically, and as proved by Lydia, if a mere mortal was faithful enough, they could draw enough power from their god to match that god’s level, but at the cost of their lives.

Lydia, for example, was able to split Nyar in half with Amaterasu’s power, so if this Saint can pull a fraction of Eris’s power out, she should be able to wound Arad or at least impress him.

Arad started walking toward her, and she didn’t move an inch. “We should change the location. This place is far too small.” As Arad reached her, he tapped her shoulder, and the two of them appeared on the surface of a floating asteroid in the dark depths of his stomach, and the only reason they could breathe or stand straight was thanks to his will and power.

“What is your name?” Arad asked, and the Saint shook her head. “I don’t have one. I discarded it when I started this journey. If I ascend, I’ll get a new name, and if I fail, I’ll live the rest of my life as a nameless slayer in the service of murder.”

She lifted her sword, took a Wrath stance, and then looked forward toward Arad as if she could see him. Arad immediately knew that she was about to strike as her link with Eris’s murder burned hot, and he could feel the divine magic rushing out to engulf the entire area.

This Saint, she wasn’t a paladin, but a cleric, a woman who was supposed to purely spec into healing, buffs, and barrier magic, not offensive capabilities like those of paladins.

Her steel boots dug into the ground, and in the blink of an eye, her entire body flashed forward in a flowing wave of pure darkness. The sole purpose of her magic was to murder Arad, and he wasn’t going to let her hit him with that swing so easily.

He had long since learned several skills that help him deal with divine magic, and he was also quite familiar with Eris’s divine magic, but using any of those skills would be cheating, as he had only learned them to face actual divine gods, not mortals.

He took a step forward and threw his hand, grabbing the Saint by the face, and slammed her to the ground with a deafening shockwave. “You have the power, but lack the skill. Such a straightforward charge would never work on me.”

As her helmet shattered beneath his palm, she gasped for air and twitched. “Next time, learn how to fight beforehand.” Then, before she could move, he crushed her head to the ground. “Eris, she is good enough.”

The Saint’s body burned with her black flames and was cremated on the spot, then from those ashes, she emerged once more. This time bearing black wings and a body drenched in divine magic. It was such a quick process that Arad couldn’t believe his eyes. “Huh? Just like that?”

Eris emerged beside Arad and approached the still unconscious newborn angel. “You need faith, divine magic, and a trigger. She had the faith needed, I had the divine magic needed, and the trigger was her death.” She looked at Arad with a smile. “Murder, while most gods would struggle or have to wait for their best faithful to die, I can just do this and still make it work.”

Arad looked at the angel’s body and then beneath her skin at the flowing divine magic. “I see… a god cannot manufacture their faithful’s death to turn them into angels; they have to wait for their destined death. If they did kill them, that would greatly harm the subject’s faith and make the process impossible.”

She approached him with a grin and leaned on his chest. “Me and Death herself are special, since our portfolios relate to death. I can murder them, and their faith won’t shake, and Death herself can do the same.”

With a flick of her fingers, she sent the angel back to the inner halls of her heaven and then looked at Arad with a grin. “Now, tomorrow morning it is my crowning. At night, we’ll empower my murder, and just before dawn… we shall see which of us can murder the other.”

She reached up toward his massive neck and sank her fangs into his veins. As she started drinking his blood, he lifted her up and took her away. The two of them landed in a faraway land, at the peak of a frozen mountain.

Eris opened her eyes and saw the endless snowstorm blowing around them, then hugged Arad tighter. “This place, isn’t it a bit too cold?”

Arad smiled. “We’re north of Gojo’s Arctic lands, at the far frozen north. Not many living beings can reach this place.” He turned around, and right behind him, the titanic head of a white drakaina was glaring at him right in the face.

“You’re quick. Do you mind if we burrow this mountain for a few hours?” He asked, and the drakaina kept glaring at him for a long while. She was a wyrm and had been hunting around her territory when she suddenly sensed something massive appear and came to check it out, but she didn’t expect to find what she did.

The man looked human, but clearly was a dragon, and the woman… was dripping with divinity, yet still had a strong draconic stench to her. “Dhoor Zin Moar?… Dahin Vul Akram?{You dare intrude… on my mountain?}” She growled, and Arad smiled. It had been a while since he heard draconic.

“We’re just looking for a quiet place. If you don’t want us here, I’ll find another place.” As Arad replied, her eyes opened wide, and her entire body melted into snow. She was a tall woman with snow-white skin, long blond hair, and icy blue eyes, and standing there, she glared at Arad once more.

Then, her eyes turned toward Eris, and she frowned. She only knew how to speak draconic, but Eris could understand her well. “And you, purple drakaina… what do you say?”

Eris looked at her with a smile. “Are you starting to realize?” She extended her foot forward and tapped her on the head. “Can we use the mountain?”

The drakaina froze in place, gulped, and then sighed. “Fine, but… I’ll pay a visit later on.”

“You aren’t angry? I’m putting my foot on your head.” Eris rubbed her head, and the drakaina smiled. “No, you are a divine goddess. Even if you pissed on me, I probably would just take it.” She then leaned closer. “But not for free… can I get your blessing?”

“You already got Tiamat’s blessing, and now want mine?” Eris pulled her foot back. “Very well.”