The dragon's harem

Chapter 1097: The Hierarchy Of The Divines

”The what destroyer?” Arad gasped, ”It can kill me?” Some things can one-shot him, but nothing can snuff out his life with a single hit. Even Vorvadoss who managed to split his human soul in half wasnʼt enough to kill him as his soul has two parts, the human and dragon soul.

”It sure can, itʼll give pretty much any living beings a deep gut wrench enough to make them spew their souls out. Itʼs useless against construct and undead though… vampires still are affected.” Kali stood and stretched her arms, ”So what do you say? We got to test it first and see how you fare…or should I explain how it works?”

”If you want her to try it on me then Iʼll survive. Should we try it out first? I want to see if I can tank it head-on.” Arad stood and cracked his neck, all of the muscles on his body flexing, and almost ripped his shirt off.

”Then itʼs decided.” Kali touched Aellaʼs forehead and a spark of light seeped into her body. Her eyes opened wide and she gasped, ”Wait…itʼs this big?!” She looked at Kali with a worried face.

”Youʼll have to go all out. I doubt youʼll be able to shoot it twice in a week.” Kali shrugged, ”But…Zephyr could cast it with another method that is far more inefficient than mine, yet she still could engulf the whole world with it.” She looked at Arad.

”Zephyr starved and injured herself to become weaker, not to lose touch with the mortal lives of the people living in her domain. She didnʼt want to forget the little ants, the cats, the people, and the animals struggling for survival. She didnʼt want to grow arrogant and drunk on power to the point sheʼd stop caring about their lives…” Kali sighed, ”But thatʼs a story for later… or one that she should be the one to tell.”

”Then what about them?” Aella looked at Isdis and Merlin, ”Iʼll test it after they get theirs.”

”Then thatʼll give Arad time to be in peace with his imminent death.” Kali clapped her hands and turned to Isdis, ”I was thinking of what power of destruction would be suitable for you…and I figure one that might be helpful for an ice queen.”

Kali waved her hand and a frozen demon appeared. ”Do you see this one? There are mainly two types of frozen creatures. They are either encased in ice or fully frozen.”

”I know, one is dead and the other is about to die from the cold.” Isdis replied and Kali smiled, ”What if I told you there is a third option that could save lives, or at least preserve them?”

”This demon… I just stole it from the lab of the demon lord of ice. He was trying to find a way to save the lives of his strongest troops if they got fatally wounded.” Kali approached the demon, ”Donʼt worry, he knows Iʼm the one who took this demon. He wonʼt dare make a single move.”

”Then is this demon the third case?” Isdis asked and Kali nodded, ”I granted that demon lord the same power Iʼm able to give. But I suspect you wonʼt be able to use it as well as him. So to explain…”

The cold slows the metabolism of all living beings, and at extreme temperatures may even halt it. But…there is a risk at such low temperatures. All living beings contain a lot of water inside their blood, cells, and muscles. When that water freezes, turns into ice crystals, and expands, it ruptures whatever delicate tissue it was in causing unrepairable damage and death.

”I see…but thatʼs what we want, right? Iʼll be disappointed if Iʼve gone to the trouble of freezing someone in a fight only to find them still alive.” Isdis nodded and Kali giggled, ”Thatʼs where youʼre wrong. You can freeze people all you want…but I used my authority over destruction to grant you a blessing that removes that damage at will. Wonʼt you be able to put anyone you want in a state of suspended animation for as long as you want? Granting them time to be healed?”

Kali stood and put her hand on Isdisʼs head, ”This power should be useful to you a lot. How you use it is up to you so get creative.”

Isdis gasped and looked at her hands, ”What is this?” She had never expected such magic to exist. The authority of destruction is far more complicated and intertwined with the fabric of reality itself…and Isdis had seen both of Eris and Miraʼs divine portfolios.

”I want to ask about something…but I think that if Iʼm right…itʼs probably something that we shouldnʼt know.” Isdis looked at Kali and she got a smile, ”Donʼt worry, Itʼs far too hard to get me angry…thank whoever you want for that.”

”Is your destruction a higher power than other divine portfolios?” Isdis asked and Kali nodded, ”I thought you all already guessed that from our talk in the bath. Destruction is a primordial concept, one that was born with the world itself.”

Arad looked at her, ”So a primordial concept is stronger than a divine portfolio…right?”

”Let me explain a bit…”

The sources of power are as follows.

Shards of Power…like Hatiʼs Eternity Shard… are fragments of primordial concepts that were destroyed by AO in the past. There is nothing thatʼs eternal or immortal in the world, all are destined to perish and open space for others to thrive and live.

Divine Portfolios are the second in power after the shards. They mainly gather power from believers and worshippers based on a single concept…you can call them wanna-be primordial concepts. Like Erisʼs Murder Portfolio, she gets power from killing…which isnʼt a primordial concept since it relies on the existence of life in the first place.

Natural Concepts are the next and they represent the combined power of one thing that exists in the world, like Amaterasu who represents the sun. This makes them range in power from sometimes being weaker than the Shards of Power to being almost as strong as a primordial concept. Just imagine Amaterasu pulling into a fight with every sun in the universe at her side…Thatʼs divinity and mortals canʼt even hope to imagine such power, let alone face it.

The last and strongest are The Primordial Concepts, the powers that were born at the beginning of the world, created by the first Overgod AO who created the world. Kaliʼs destruction is one of them. Everything must obey destruction, even Amaterasuʼs suns are destroying fuel inside their cores so they can keep burning hot and not collapse under their own weight.

Aella looked at her with a surprised face, ”If you and Amaterasu were to fight, who would come on top?”

”Iʼd win,” Kali said with a smile and lifted her hand, pointing at the sun. The sun suddenly turned off and the whole world fell into darkness…only for it to light up again a second later.

”What did you?” The girls gasped and Kali looked at them, ”A simple demonstration.”

”You scared the whole world…” A voice came from above them and when they looked up…Amaterasu was floating there…or at least a ghostly image of her.

”Sorry, mom…I just wanted to show them something. The sun wasnʼt harmed, was it? Iʼm sure I protected it from getting destroyed.” Kali said with a smile but Amaterasuʼs ghostly figure flew down and grabbed her by the ear, ”If you werenʼt such a grown woman now I wouldʼve whopped your ass…do you know what would happen if your power didnʼt prevent the sun from collapsing? Itʼll explode and the whole world will burn.”

”AW! AW! AW! It hurts!” Kali cried and Amaterasu glared at Arad, ”Isnʼt she supposed to be your wife soon? Put her on a leash before she causes a disaster. If that darkness lasted for even a few seconds more people mightʼve died out of fear alone.”

”How am I supposed to put her on a leash? But…Iʼll at least try to make sure she doesnʼt harm anyone.” Arad replied and Amaterasu flew away, disappearing into a fine mist.

”You called her mom?” Arad looked at Kali, ”Wasnʼt Lily your foster mother?”

”My real mother died giving birth to me and my father got killed while trying to pass on the power of destruction to me…Amaterasu and Tsukuyomi raised and protected me from the other god for at least a few centuries before Kayden and Lily took me in.” Kali explained and Arad looked at her, ”Who is Tsukuyomi?”

”Amaterasuʼs Younger brother and the father of the previous goddess of the moon Selune. The current goddess of the moon Luna is his granddaughter.” Kali looked at Arad, ”Last Iʼve heard of him he was on an extended vacation here in the mortal world. He travels the world as a tourist and has been doing so for at least six thousand years now.”

Arad couldnʼt help but think…^That hagʼs younger brother retried and she was still glued to her throne…^