The dragon's harem

Chapter 1433: The World Tree Spirit

Spirits either evolve from lesser Pixies and fairies or are born from great sources of magic. Being born from the World Tree, the power a spirit could possess far outclassed anything that the world had to offer.

The tree side exploded with a storm of branches, exploding flowers, and raging thorns. Arad was blasted back, bracing against the violent push of the great magic.

”She hits hard.” Arad flew back, turned into his half-draconic form, and looked around, trying to find the Spirit Queen. He didn’t transform into his draconic form since that would make him an even larger target, which the tiny spirit could easily dodge and rip to pieces.

But before he could find her, she found him. ”I’m called Dendron Pneuma. In your words, just a Tree Spirit.”

Dendron grabbed Arad by the tip of his wing and swung him around with harrowing force. Even with her not being taller than a foot, she held enough strength in those tiny arms to swing Arad around like a doll.

Arad twisted his torso, and his fist flew at the tiny spirit.

Dendron pushed his fist aside with her hand, grabbed his wrist, and then thorns and spikes burst out of Arad’s arm. It hurt a lot, not because his flesh was ripped apart from the inside out, but because the damage extended even deeper into his soul. She was sucking his life force out of him.

Arad slashed his arm off and flew back, watching it wither and turn into dust after being sucked dry by Dendron’s roots. ”A year old? How young, no wonder you’re too naive. Do you know how old I am?”

”Old enough that it’s time for you to die.” Arad regenerated his arm and got Doma ready.

”There are only four people older than me. Yggdrasil, the World Tree. Adam, the Father of Humanity. Asgorath, the Progenitor of Dragons. Lucifer, the First Divine.” She lifted her hand, and a ball of spirit magic formed between her fingers.

”You aren’t one of them, and I’m not about to get bullied by a newborn.” She waved her hand, and the ball of light flew at Arad faster than he could see, suddenly making him feel a familiar pain.

”This!” Arad couldn’t feel Doma or his vampires anymore; all of them were sealed away, and they were hanging from Dendron’s fingers like a cluster of grapes.

”No more power, baby, time to sleep. And never wake up!” She flew at him, swinging her fist. At that moment, one of the grapes exploded, and a foot emerged from it, kicking Dendron in the face hard enough to deflect her away from Arad.

”Little hag-bug got the same trick as the hag-midget.” Doma shook her leg. ”Good thing I studied how she ripped me off him in that cursed world of hers.”

Doma was right, even though they were different, the basis of the method Dendron used to snatch her and the vampires out of Arad’s soul and blood was similar enough to what Yog used. Since she had experienced it before and had already prepared to escape from Yog’s clutches, she couldn’t be bound for long.

”Arad! Be careful, she is a master of magic despite her look.” Doma flew to Arad’s side. She was now using a void creature body, but she almost immediately switched to using one of his incarnations to be able to use as much power as she could.

”So the bog’s hag got out.” Dendron stared at them with a smile, ”What would that change? Nothing.”

Doma glared at her with burning pink eyes, ”A bog hag? Said the talking twig.”

Doma pulled a dagger out of nowhere and reached up, cutting her right ear. ”I’ll show you something that even hell would loath, a curse from beyond reason.” She lifted her severed ear, pointing with it at the sky.

The ear burst aflame, and the whole world started to trumble. As only the ashes remained, Doma blew them toward Dendron.

”Curses don’t work on me.” Dendron waved her hand, and a wave of golden magic washed the ashes away. ”You’re all too young, too naive, and too ignorant.”

Doma smiled, ”Said the senile hag.”

The world suddenly turned cracked in front of Dendron’s face, before she could dodge, something hit hard enough to rip her left arm and upper shoulder away, creating a crack in reality itself.

Dendron gasped as she flew back, healing herself, but even though her flesh mended, the damage she received never went away, as if something awful ripped something out of her very being.

”What did you do?” Dendron growled.

”I’ll tell you, if you grovel and suck my toes for a few decades.” Doma flew back toward Arad, sending him a mental message.

{I’m fateless; the Fates would strike me down if they detected me. I just sent the ashes with my mark toward her, and let their strike hit her. They ripped parts of her very fate, which would take a long time to heal.}

^That explains why whatever she did to dispel curses didn’t work; It wasn’t a curse at all.^

{Don’t be too happy about it. The twig survived a strike from the Fates; she must be linked to something stronger than fate, and my guess is that it’s the World Tree.}

Even if the hit didn’t kill Dendron outright, it made her extremely wary of Doma. To think that someone who existed for no longer than a few centuries could muster enough power to do her this badly.

Dendron had learned one thing: never underestimate a witch called the Queen of Curses. The Bog Hag’s very existence is a stain on the world and must be avoided. Which begs the question, this brat with her, what’s their relationship?

Something didn’t make sense. The World Tree would’ve killed anyone who dared try to burn it. Since the dark elves did it, the World Tree had never spared anyone; she had killed thousands of fools who attempted to burn her down.

Not even the overgod has enough power to damage or resist the World Tree’s assault, so no matter how powerful this void dragon brat was, he shouldn’t be able to threaten the World Tree like he did.

Why did Yggdrasil let this happen? Why didn’t she just kill Arad?

Dendron had no idea. But all she had to think about now was getting rid of Doma first, and then dealing with Arad.

But unknown to the Dendron, Arad was already deep in thought, trying to understand what was going on as well. If Dendron was this powerful, how did the previous kings survive her? What is her real job? Is she just a wild spirit living here, or is she an agent of the World Tree?

Why was Dendron playing tricks on them as the leprechaun instead of just ending them? Was it just for fun, or did she have another purpose?

Why does he feel like they are all getting played between someone’s fingers, between someone’s branches, to be exact.

”Are we all just pawns in the hand of something greater?”