NTR: Barbarian Harem Conquest

Down in the valley, the hundred Milfheim soldiers shifted into a loose circle without anyone uttering a single command.

Up on the ridge, Kane’s group held their ground.

A single glance told them to stay put, and they listened.

Dismounting from her horse, Seraphine caught the mountain light on her white armor.

It wasn’t just the divine designation.

Her every motion possessed the specific economy of a woman who had been fighting wars long before his own civilization even figured out written language.

She was also beautiful, possessing the structural elegance of someone who stopped trying to look pretty several decades ago and was left with something far more permanent.

’Not relevant right now,’ Kane reminded himself, rolling his shoulders to loosen the tension.

Without bowing or offering any formal ceremony, she lunged.

Her white sword moved at a speed his high-level system barely tracked.

Stormforged Peak meant she operated on a tier where the gap between them became a physical wall.

Her divine blessing amplified her natural capabilities just like Grieselda’s bond enhanced him during the royal arena fight, except this commander enjoyed that power permanently rather than relying on a one-time event.

Refusing to draw Mjoldr right away, Kane chose to read her first.

Five strikes flashed toward him in the span of a single breath.

Twisting his torso, he avoided four completely.

Her fifth blade caught his left arm, leaving a shallow cut.

’Shit, she’s fast,’ Kane calculated, analyzing her flawless footwork while backing away.

’Her patterns are different too. No heartbeat acceleration. No muscle twitches.’

Her designation apparently suppressed the physiological tells his high perception normally relied on to predict attacks.

’I conjecture that fighting her is like fighting a phantom with a sharp blade.’

Reaching over his shoulder, Kane finally drew Mjoldr.

Crimson energy flared from the axe head, meeting the light of her sword.

The air between them instantly sparked as two completely different flavors of ancient power recognized each other.

Seraphine paused for one second.

’She felt that,’ Kane smirked, gripping the haft tighter.’

Her next sequence of attacks came with brutality.

This was no tournament duel with polite rules and medical staff waiting on the sidelines.

Two people stood in a remote mountain valley fighting at full capacity, simply because one needed to evaluate the other, and honest violence was the only language that worked.

Pain flared across his chest as he took three more hits.

One strike caught his ribs, cracking the same bones he broke in the pit fights.

Another slash dragged across his right forearm, slicing deep enough to compromise his grip on his axe.

Her final thrust grazed his shoulder, compounding existing nerve damage from his previous encounters.

Blood ran steadily down his arm, pooling near his knuckles and making the handle slick.

’She thought going easy on me would make me submit?’ Kane deduced, forcing himself to keep moving despite the burning pain radiating through his torso.

He refused to break.

”System,” Kane muttered under his breath.

Activating his Allocation skill, he dumped all his available stat points straight into Agility for the next sixty seconds.

The gap didn’t disappear entirely, as she still maintained a higher baseline, but the margin narrowed enough for him to stop acting like a punching bag and start throwing real responses.

Dodging the slash, Kane swung his armor and landed a hit on her neck.

’One.’

Then Kane surged forward, driving his knee straight into the side of her helmet before swinging Mjoldr in a brutal downward arc.

’Two.’

Seraphine’s posture changed; her one eye visible from the broken helmet was widened.

Swinging Mjoldr with everything he had, his Soul Brand activated on the third exchange.

Bam

[Hidden Property Activated - Soul Brand]

[Target defenses shattered permanently]

Her armor did not shatter like the elven prince’s defenses.

Instead, it disrupted.

The divine blessing stitched into her gear fought fiercely against the fallen energy radiating from his axe.

Two opposing powers generated a sudden friction neither fighter fully controlled.

Staggering backward, Seraphine lost her footing.

She was thrown off balance by the energetic interference rather than the physical impact itself.

Kane closed the distance instantly.

Hooking her sword arm with the curve of Mjoldr’s blade, he bypassed trying to cut her and just redirected her momentum.

Her white sword flew wide, leaving her center completely exposed.

Stepping inside her guard, Kane drove his elbow squarely into her sternum, putting his entire Warbrand-peak Strength behind the blow.

”Guh!”

Gasping for air, she stumbled back three steps before catching herself.

Catching her in the throat, Kane slammed her body on the ground and threw her to the side.

His right arm throbbed, his fingers barely holding onto the axe handle.

But he remained steady.

Across the grass, Seraphine stood with one disrupted armor blessing and a bruised sternum that would likely hurt every time she took a deep breath for the next week.

Looking at him, her face displayed an expression he had never seen on a seasoned fighter.

”You should be dead right now,” Seraphine pointed out, her breathing slightly uneven.

”I know,” Kane agreed, offering a bloody, unrepentant smile.

”The stage gap between our levels is—”

”Real,” Kane finished for her, wiping a stray drop of blood from his chin.

”I fought you anyway.”

”Why?” she demanded, sounding genuinely confused by his suicidal persistence.

”Because you needed to see what I do when I’m outmatched,” Kane explained, leaning his weight slightly onto his axe.

”If I declined your challenge, you would report back to your ruler that I was overly cautious. If I begged for special terms, you would tell her I was just a politician looking for a comfortable exit. I conjecture you needed to see what I do when there is no good option on the board and I decide to take it anyway.”

Seraphine stared at him for a long moment, evaluating the madman standing before her.

Then, surprising every single soldier in her elite formation, she smoothly sheathed her white sword.

”You have bruised my ribs, temporarily disrupted my divine blessing, and made me bleed once,” she recounted smoothly, her voice carrying across the quiet valley.

”At your current level. Fighting against mine.”

”Yes,” Kane nodded, refusing to look away.

”The Empress will see you,” she declared.