The dragon's harem

As the battalion of angels returned, another battalion took their place to stand guard, and the tired angels made their way to Eris’s massive tent, where they lined up, all one hundred of them.

As they lined up inside, Eris stood and approached them. The angels remained still. Some looked excited, but a few were horrified.

”What are you going to do?” Hecate asked, and Eris looked back at her with a smile. ”Pick the best and worst ten. Those who did well will be rewarded, and those who didn’t will be punished.”

Eris walked between the angels and tapped a few of them until she got a whole twenty, and then asked them to step forward while everyone else stepped back. No one needed to even guess which ten did well and who didn’t; it was clear on their faces.

The ten winners looked both happy and excited, while the ten who didn’t do that well knew it and looked both grim, sad, and a bit scared. Except one, who looked strangely happy.

Eris started with the winners, and she approached one of them and stared at her eyes. The angel was tall, well build, and had long black hair, glowing silver eyes, and an aura of someone who can become an archon if given enough time.

”You did well.” Eris tapped on the angel’s thick chest plate, and the angel smiled. ”Thank you!”

”While you didn’t kill the most abominations, you sustained the least damage and protected many of your comrades. But what made me pick you for the first spot is something else.” Eris touched the angel’s face. ”What do you think it is? Guess right, and I’ll let you pick and choose.”

The angel gulped and then replied in a shaking voice. ”Since I assisted Amaterasu’s angels?”

Eris smiled from ear to ear. ”True, unlike everyone else here who just wanted to do well and show off, you were more focused on making sure everyone survived, even Amaterasu’s angels. In my opinion, being a team player is a very important thing.”

Eris then took a step back. ”Then, what do you want for your reward?”

The angel smiled. ”I want to Lord Arad to train me.” As the angel replied, Eris looked at her with a smug grin, ”Is that all? You know I can read your mind, right?”

The angel blushed. ”You want me to spell it out? If... if fancies me, then I want permission to sleep with him.”

Eris giggled. ”You don’t need my permission for that. If he wants you, he’ll take you.” She patted her on the shoulder, then pointed at two more angels.

”Ranked two and three. You didn’t help as much as she did, but you showed great competence combined with amazing fighting skills.” Eris approached one of the two and looked at her radiant golden eyes. ”You killed the most out of everyone here, a whole one hundred and eleven abominations all dead by your hands in what was it, less than an hour? Got anything to say?”

The angel who killed the most abominations gulped. ”Was it better, to focus more on supporting others than killing as many abominations as possible?”

”Yes. The objective was to stop the abominations, and that’s something that would require the entire battalion to work together. You going on your own wasn’t bad, as conventional warfare tactics of sticking together don’t work well when dealing with the strange powers of the abominations.” Eris smiled. ”Next time, making sure everyone is alive comes first.”

The angel nodded, and so Eris shifted her attention to the third-ranked. ”And you... Well balanced, killed enough, protected enough, and assisted enough. I’ve got nothing to complain about.” Eris pointed at the angel’s chest.

”Got anything to complain about or wish for?”

The angel was silent for a few seconds, but then spoke, wiggling two white wings. ”I lack the power, speed, divine magic, and endurance to achieve more. I’ve been training and trying to get stronger for a while, but I’ve made no progress at all.”

Eris smiled. ”So, you want more power?” She reached out with her hand and stabbed the angel in the neck with her index finger. The angel gasped, and Eris looked at her with a grin. ”Sit still, I’m just checking your body through your blood.”

After a few seconds, Eris pulled her finger out and the angel’s wound healed. ”I got it. You lack faith more than anything else. You believe in me, but you’ve already reached a ceiling for that and cannot draw more divine magic.”

The angel’s face paled. ”That... I do have faith...”

”I know you do; you have more than many, but you’ve already reached the limit.” Eris shook her head. ”To draw more power, you don’t need training, but faith. After this fight, Zia would take care of you.” Eris looked back at Zia, and Zia smiled. ”Don’t worry, I’ll make her worship the ground you walk on.”

Eris then moved to the side and picked three more angels; those were ranked fourth, fifth, and sixth. ”Sadly, I’ve got many angels to go through, so I’ll give you a few quick questions.”

She pointed at the fourth-ranked. ”You joined the fight while lacking divine magic. You should’ve refilled it the moment I called you all to the battlefield.” The angel paled for a second. ”I deeply apologize for my incompetence.”

Eris smiled. ”No, you don’t need to. In fact, that had opened my eyes to two important things. First, I need to put someone in charge who will make sure all of you are in top condition whenever we expect a fight. And...” Eris touched the angel’s face. ”You got some insane divine magic efficiency. To have gone this far while not at 100%, we all have something to learn from you.”

”Thank you!” As the angel bowed, Eris patted her on the head. ”I’ll have you teach everyone here how to efficiently use divine magic, and teach Arad as well. He is quite the hungry one.” She tapped the angel on the back and whispered in her ear. ”Teaching him something new, play it well, and you might not walk for a week.”

Eris then moved to the fifth-ranked angel, and the moment she approached, she could hear the angel’s heavy breathing and see her blushing face. ”Out of everyone here, you have the most divine magic. In fact, in terms of divine magic, you have four times as much as one after you.”

The blushing angel nodded with an excited face. ”I always love murder. Wars kill people. Violence kills people, and the goal of fighting is murder.” She shivered. ”To think a day would come when I’ll be under the Goddess of Murder; now I can enjoy slaughter in the war as much as I want.”

”So, you love murder?” As Eris asked, the angel nodded.

”You’ve done well. But what I found most impressive about you is that even with how much you love killing, you still spared some time to support your fellow angels and even helped a few of Amaterasu’s angels. Why is that?” As Eris asked, she could clearly see the angel’s grin growing wider.

”Of course, it was your will, my divine. I might love Murder, but my love for you, my Goddess of Murder, is far greater. In your hands, I’m nothing but a Murder tool, a killing weapon, and a weapon doesn’t complain.”

Eris crossed her arms, looked at the angel for a few seconds, and then smiled. ”Say, want to become an archon? With your faith, love, and dedication, you’ll be able to easily amass enough divine magic to ascend.”

”That... would be a dream comes true. My Divine.” The angel bowed and Eris went to check on the others who did well. They all asked to train with her or Arad, so she promised to grant their wishes when they went back home.

She then went to check on those who did the worst, and they were all scared, except for the last one.