The dragon's harem

Chapter 1098: Aellaʼs Deadly Arrow

”How about me?” Merlin looked at Kali with a curious gaze, ”Iʼm a mage so I doubt youʼll find me a power that isnʼt too powerful to grant to a mortal and that I canʼt mimic with magic.”

”True…” Kali nodded, ”All of the powers that I can think of giving you are too powerful for you to handle. And the ones I can give you are easily copied by magic. You can summon demons or disintegrate things…so is there anything in your mind that I can help you with?”

”Well, there is a power that I want…but…” Merlin waved her fingers, creating a string of purple magic.

”I understand.” Kali lifted one of her hands, ”Weʼll be back in a second.” She and Merlin disappeared.

Inside a locked stone room both Kali and Merlin appeared, ”No one would hear us here, not even the gods.” Kali looked at Merlin with a smile.

”Good…” Merlin had a large smile on her face, but Kali had to cut her almost immediately. ”Youʼll never be worried about Arad knowing something…so I guess youʼre worried about Yog knowing about what you want.”

”As expected from a goddess, nothing gets past you.” Merlin sat facing Kali, ”Thatʼs why I want to talk about it here.”

”Hold your horses. Nothing gets past me…Yog even more. I bet you my whole power she already knows about what you want. The only reason she left you to talk to me is that she doesnʼt mind you getting it. Youʼre a wizard so you better get comfortable living under the watchful gaze.”

Kali leaned on her six arms and looked at Merlin with a thinking gaze, ”There are very few powers that Yog might hate…which one are you after?”

With a worried face, Merlin took a few deep breaths before speaking. ”I want to be able to destroy mana, erase it.”

Kali shook her face, ”I do indeed hold that power…but itʼs not something Iʼll give to you.” Merlin looked a bit sad, but she had expected that response.

”But…Iʼll grant you the power to destroy spells. You can then make an array on your own that absorbs that mana to empower yourself. That should be more useful and less offensive to Yog.” Merlinʼs eyes lit back up as she gasped.

”And to balance it even more…or to at least prevent Yog from trying to stop you later on, the power would rely on a contest of magic skill between you and the target. Your knowledge, skills, intellect, and wisdom all get calculated and compared. If you came on top, youʼll destroy the spell and absorb its mana; if the opponent came on top, youʼll suffer a backlash and take damage.” Kali stood and clapped her hands.

****

Moments later, Merlin and Kali returned. Arad took a single look at Merlin, and he noticed a huge change; his instincts were now firing, telling him that she was a danger. If she were a bee before, she now looks more like a hornet to him.

”Seems like you got what you wanted.” Arad said, and Merlin looked at him, ”I want to tell you but… If I told you now, then Iʼll never be able to win against you, so…”

”Then keep it as a surprise. Iʼm looking forward to it.” He stood, mana crackling on his skin in a purple haze. His eyes shifted toward Aella, ”Now…we can go test that out.”

Aella gulped, feeling her knees growing weaker. Can she really take him down with this Oxygen Destroyer thing? No…all she could do was try, and hope that it would be neither a disappointment nor a great success.

”Letʼs go…Hatiʼs poor world is waiting.” Kali stood and clapped her six hands, three successive claps.

****

Arad took a step on brown wastelands, a drought-plagued hill between several massive mountains that gazed at the clouds. The rays of light flashed down from the clouds, washing over his face but failing to illuminate his black hair and clothes.

His heart started beating like a drum, louder and louder, a marching thunder as black veins of mana crackled over his body. As per Kaliʼs advice… he had discarded all vampires and spirits out of his body, which left him alone with Doma and Mom inside his head.

Somewhat back to square zero…he stood there gazing upon the twilight horizon. His senses tell him that the eyes of a great threat are watching his every move.

Ten kilometers away and standing with Kali behind the mountains, Aellaʼs fingers started shaking. She could feel it, the gaze of a great monster upon her soul. Arad can see her, smell her, and feel the power of her magic. If this were a real fight, it wouldnʼt take him a fraction of a second to leap at and rip her to pieces.

Kali looked at her, ”Youʼre shaking a bit too much. Are you that scared of him?” She could smell her sweat, fear, and hesitation. In all of her life, Aella had never pointed her bow at such a thing.

”I know Arad…and I know how powerful and scary he can be. But I also donʼt want to kill him or even harm him.” Aella replied with a face drenched in sweat, her fingers refused to grasp the bowstring.

Kali lifted her hand and smacked her on the back, ”This power I gave you is dangerous…but if Zephyr managed to mimic it on her own, then the abominations might find a way to weaponize it against Arad. Itʼs better for him to feel its burn from you than in a real battle.”

Aella closed her eyes, ”I got it, if he dies, Iʼll fire an arrow at you next.” Looking at Aellaʼs eyes Kali could feel a sharp pulse of wind magic, traces of a great spirit, and a rebellious one at that. Zephyr didnʼt just live with her but even bestowed her crown to her.

Shadows engulfed Aradʼs body, turning him into a massive black egg of an ever-consuming void. The shell cracked, and a massive draconic arm burst out, his obsidian claws ripping the stone with ease as if he touched soft sand.

From that tiny void, he emerged, a great black mass of darkness, a void dragon with burning purple eyes. Standing on all fours, his tail swung around and ripped a crack into the ground, and his wings expanded and radiated enough magic that night fell.

His back crackled with streaks of white magic, and the ground beneath his massive claws started ripping apart, melting, and flowing into his limbs, feeding his nuclear engine.

Aella saw the sky turn black and felt the ground shaking beneath her feet. Kali spoke in the back, ”The world is afraid of the monster on its back… Arad doesnʼt just eat monsters or people, he preys on the world itself.”

Aella could hear her heart beating, her breath slowing down, and something warm slipped out between her legs as her teeth clashed with one another. This oppressive magic was what he hid from them, the monster that his enemies faced.

She took a deep breath and lifted her bow, ”Letʼs do this…” Her body burst with a powerful wave of wind magic and burned in a blaze of green magic. The air around her started swirling and blowing away like a storm that Arad could see and sense from where he stood.

Aellaʼs nails burned bright green, her whole body was engulfed in spirit markings, and her eyes burned green. Her hair started flapping behind her head, turning into a wave of pure emerald magic.

Her body started floating up as a blindingly green crown flashed on her head, and two spectral spirit wings emerged from her back.

^She really fused with Zephyrʼs magic, she might not hold a fraction of her true power…Where did Zephyr find such a talent…^ Kali moved away to give Aella some space to let her magic loose.

Aellaʼs bow flashed green, turning into a massive great bow of wind magic and she pulled the string, charging a roaring emerald arrow of pure spirit mana. She pulled the string and aimed at an angle, straight toward Arad.

Arad looked in Aellaʼs direction, fully aware that she now had the red dot on his head. The arrow of destruction was coming soon, so he roared into the sky, sending a soul-crushing shriek, making clear that he wouldnʼt accept going down without resisting. That arrow, heʼll rip to shreds with a single bite before it hits him.

Aella released her arrow, and it flew into the clouds, flashing green. Arad saw it approaching him with a menacing glimmer. Silence fell for a second, and the arrow reached his nose in the next.

A blinding flash followed by an ever-consuming green light… it was just then that Aella realized the horror she flung at her husband. Now that she saw it she finally understood how the oxygen destroyer works, and her next instinct was to turn around, pointing her next arrow at Kali, ”Shouldʼve told me it was like this!” She already had the second oxygen destroyer ready to fire.

Aradʼs magic behind her was already fading away, and his heartbeats long since halted.