The dragon's harem

Chapter 1187: Incandescent Soul

Lydia ran across the darkness, her sword flying like a haze of fire through the darkness, ripping it apart. The corruption ran away, cowering in fear as the radiant sun rose amongst them.

One tentacle after another, tens of them flew toward the incandescent paladin like hungry snakes. They were fast, terribly fast. No mortal could see them approaching, the mortal paladin braving hell shouldnʼt be able to resist such abhorrent power.

Lydia dodged one tentacle, plaguing the horrorʼs mind with confusion. She couldnʼt be able to dodge, yet here she had done it. Her sword flew upward, a simple, efficient, and fast swing, and the tentacle flew away, severed and burned, twisting like the severed tail of a lizard from pain.

With each swing, Lydiaʼs muscles ripped apart, her bones cracked, and her nerves screamed with unbearable pain. Her body was pushed to its limit and beyond to keep up with the horror. But her divine magic rushed through her veins, healing the damage before the swing could even finish.

The remaining tentacles already knew she could dodge, so theyʼll drown her with numbers. Over twenty of them flew at her. She can dodge one or two, she can cut one, but the rest would impale her, sap the life out of her body.

Lydiaʼs blade flashed with divine magic as she took a step forward and swung down. The divine magic flew out of her burning heart and rippled through her blade, exploding forward into a massive crescent blade slash of divine magic. [Divine Cleaver]

The immense and burning divine magic of Amaterasu burned through the tentacles and slashed at the darkness, ripping it in half. For a split second, Lydia saw the thing. A black mass of corpses, drowned in tar and carnal desire, twisting and contorting on its own, horrid, foul, and appalling.

Lydia didnʼt know what kind of thing it was, but she knew one thing. That thing is what she should slash. But there was another thing taking root in her brain, formless, black, and evil, a seed of madness, desire, and abhorrent lust for pain and suffering.

That seed was immediately burned away by the searing agony of her flesh being torn apart and mended by divine magic. Those desires withered and died; her mind was an unfertile land for such accursed thoughts.

The seed of madness clawed back, gripping at her brain, trying to wrestle control. The pain of her broken body, the seed tried to weaponise it, turn it into pleasure. And the suffering of hell looked appealing, if she would just surrender to the evil creature and die… she would enjoy the pain of suffering for eternity.

Paladins are always deprived of their pleasure in the pursuit of goodness; they are like monks in some regard. That could be a power, but also a weakness. Their will to avoid the pleasures of the world is otherworldly, but their tolerance to it is far too low. With the creatureʼs power, he could force the desire into her mind through magic. Sheʼll fall, even if she doesnʼt want to.

But it was there when the creature made a mistake, a huge one. Lydia already had an anchor in her heart. The creatureʼs magic fell on a deaf ear and burned into ash within her fiery soul, fanned by Amaterasuʼs power and Jackʼs existence.

All of those feelings happened in a fraction of a second, and Lydia was only left feeling disgust, appalled, and grossed out by the vile creature. The creature had wanted her to surrender, but ended up fueling her hatred and will to slay him.

Lydiaʼs hand moved forward, and a second sun emerged on her palm. A fraction of a second, that sun flew like a beacon of light toward the monster and exploded in a brilliant pillar of light.

The darkness shuddered and receded away, but never faded. The horror was still alive; it survived and crawled back into the depths of hell, and still, it never gave up. Its power never dropped, and its hunger only grew stronger.

Lydiaʼs eyes flashed with divine magic as she looked around. The creatureʼs main body had gone into hiding, and now only the tentacles were attacking her. That sun failed to kill him, what a mistake. Now itʼll never show its body in front of her again; She needs to draw it out.

But the creature was smart, his goal was never Lydia. As much as it would love to see such a pure and fiery soul drown in pain, its target is another one. The spawn of the void.

The bats in the sky flew down, aiming at the injured party. Their goal is to snatch Matilda and bring her to him. With her soul, it might be able to free itself, just maybe.

But then, something strange happened. When the batʼs claws were just a few meters away from Matilda, it exploded. All of the bats in the sky exploded, all hundreds of them. And those werenʼt small bats; each one was at least ten meters tall.

Matilda fell to the ground, looking up with a terrified face. She thought she was dead for a second. She was sure that something had leaked out, but it was the bats that scared her. A massive mass of pure darkness fell from the sky. She thought the horror was falling from the sky on their heads, but it was something else, something larger, so large that she could throw up just by looking at it. Her head was already spinning.

A titanic dragon of pure onyx and purple haze, its burning eyes, long, sharp claws, and muscular body towered over the darkness. All of the tentacles were pushed to the ground and flattened like paper.

Matilda had never seen Arad in his draconic body before. With how exhausted and terrified she was now, she couldnʼt even focus on magic to recognize him. After being left trembling for a few seconds, her eyes finally opened wide when Arad shifted into his humanoid form and stood in front of her.

With a forbidding face, his eyes glared at the darkness with burning malice. He could already smell Gamond and Lunaraʼs blood, and that was about to drive him mad. He had seen her severed wings lying motionless in the vast darkness, and he was about to snap.

Haru didnʼt know who he was, but since he killed the bats, he had to be on their side. Hopefully that is. Her hands canʼt stop shaking when he is around. She canʼt see or hear him. But she can feel Aradʼs oppressive presence.

Using her power, she looked into the future, trying to sense where Arad is looking. And before she could finish, she spoke, ”Donʼt look at the darkness. That thing would drive…” But she went silent. Something, something was in her mind.

Aradʼs gaze was upon her, and she regretted ever opening her mouth. In a second, she saw herself die a million times over until her power ripped itself off. There was no escaping death in front of him, and he is pissed off.

She didnʼt know what prevented him from killing her at the last moment, but she wonʼt complain.

What saved her life was Arad himself. If he doesnʼt control his rage and diffuse the situation, he might end up going on a rampage again, and he is sure his new powers would leave a scar on hell.

”Haaa!” Gamond sighed, falling down gracelessly, ”Good, youʼre here, switch, Switch!” She waved her hand. Lunara also seemed to relax, ”Be careful, that thing is tough and strong. Also got some weird mind hex.”