The dragon's harem

Chapter 1465: A Dance of Freedom

”First Lesson, don’t get in my way.” Arad had said that, but now he found himself in a difficult situation. The petals of the World Tree flowers and roses were kicked up into the air as Core moved across the whole stage with frightening speed and grace.

Yggdrasil, the World Tree, was a stationary plant; she can’t move, she isn’t supposed to be able to move. So her first spawn inherited all of her rights, granting him dominant control over his body and speed, transcending what most beings consider freedom.

Core can move at the speed of light, he can teleport, and he can twist and contort his body in the strangest of ways, flexing his flexibility and agility.

Arad had faced Betty, who could move at the speed of light, but Core put her to shame simply because he was larger, more flexible, and had more raw skill behind his moves.

Diana, who was standing just outside the stage, gasped, all of the muscles on her body tensed as she got ready to jump in. She can’t move at the speed of light, but she was still much faster than Arad could ever be anytime soon.

But before she could move, Core froze in his place, bleeding from his nose. ”I see, I... got arrogant.” He looked at Arad, who was already missing an arm.

”Arrogant? Look at me, lost my whole damn arm.” Arad smiled and lifted his hand, regenerated his other one, and unleashed his Elemental expansion a second time.

Earlier, when Core started to move, Arad spent a few seconds analyzing his moves and predicting his path. He then moved as fast as he could, slowing time to almost a halt, and teleporting through space using Vorvadoss’s magic to intercept him. It was like trying to slash a bullet with a sword, impossibly hard, but still doable with enough practice and predicting the bullet’s path.

In short, Arad predicted Core’s path, then used all of his movement abilities to intercept him with a punch. The Elemental expansion was just there to make Arad’s life easier.

After a second clash that was too fast for anyone to see, Arad was standing with a massive hole through his torso, and missing his right arm. Core, on the other hand, looked the same, just his chest had a solid dent in it.

Core reached up and touched his chest, healing the dent. ”You’re slow, too slow, and I dodged you. So, how did you hit me? How could you react?”

Arad smiled as he healed, ”I’m not reacting, I can’t even see you move. But I can predict how you’ll act. I know you’ll dodge my second interception, and I know that you’ll dodge to my right, because if you dodged left, you’ll end up crashing into me and kill me.”

Arad had gotten in Core’s path and swung his right fist. If Core dodged left, he would crash into Arad’s torso and kill him. So it was obvious to Arad that he would dodge left to avoid hitting Arad completely. That’s why Arad took a preemptive step to the right to get in Core’s path after he dodged.

Core was both stunned and happy to see that even while powerless and memoryless, his grandpa was still an unstoppable and defiant powerhouse who refused to fail.

A true god must be both omnipotent and omniscient; memory and power loss can’t be hurdles in his path. It seems that the words of his uncle, Chad, were true.

AO isn’t dead, and has never gone away. As a divine being, he created death, so he can’t possibly die. Calling him dead was just the explanation lesser beings like the gods used to describe, which they didn’t understand, and Core was fully aware that only one person understood what was really happening with AO, and that was Yog.

”Grandpa, if you don’t mind, I’ll slow down a bit. I know it’s an insult to hold back against you, but this child still wants to offer some help.” He slowed down and flew at Arad with a clenched fist.

Arad lifted his fist and blocked Core’s punch, feeling his forearms cracking, but all in all, he took less damage than a blow at the speed of light. Those previous attacks blew parts of his body into bloody mist; now he can at least block and counter.

Arad clenched his fist and swung back, instead of a normal punch, though, he teleported mid-strike to appear behind Core and aim at the back of his head.

Core dodged Arad’s strike by twisting his torso and reaching back. His arms bent backward at the elbows and grabbed Arad’s wrist, winding up into a deadly backhand fist that flew straight at Arad’s torso.

Arad found himself unable to dodge because Core held him tightly, which only left him with the option to block. He wasn’t having any of that, so instead he pulled his arm so hard that he ripped it at the elbow, leaving his forearm in Core’s hand, and dodged the strike.

The two then got locked in a storm of violence, each swinging at the other with enough force to shake the whole arena. But for some reason, their moves looked strange.

It took Diana a few long moments to realise it, and only when Mathilde explained it did she fully understand what was happening. Core was a dance, and Arad was mimicking him to be able to fight back, which meant the two of them were effectively dancing around each other.

”I can’t believe he is fighting Core of all people.” Diana sighed, looking around for any opening to attack.

”I advise you to stay put. Core is much stronger; he can kill Arad and finish us after if he wants. He isn’t serious, and we should make sure he stays like that.” Mathilde clenched her fist.

Noticing that something was off, Diana had to ask why Core called Arad his Grandpa, but Mathilde shook her head.

Of course, Mathilde couldn’t tell her that Arad is AO, and that since Yggdrasil, Adam, Lucifer, and Asograth saw him as their father, Core Leon, who is Yggdrasil’s firstborn, will see him as his grandfather.

”That is...” She thought about it, ”Just the way he speaks, you know, those ancient beings, they all have their weird side.” Mathilde flicked her fingers, ”Yes! Didn’t the Pale Night call Arad something weird as well? I saw it in a report made by Kali to Sylph.”

Diana frowned, ”That was... she said she can’t birth a new body for him because then she won’t be able to call him daddy. That was obviously a... horny joke. I can’t see how Core’s words are a joke, though. And I can’t even see why he would make a joke.”

”Listen, if you tried to understand those ancient divine beings, your brain will rot away and melt from their nonsense. Just look at Yggdrasil. Why is she putting us through all of this instead of just letting us go there, meet her, and be done with this whole mess?”

”I don’t know, but she must have a reason. Like test how Arad acts in specific situations that he might face later, when trying to save her saplings, if the whole story she told him wasn’t a lie.” Diana shrugged, and Mathilde nodded.

”See? You answered yourself, they are old, ancient, wise, and powerful. They must have a reason, so we should let them do what they want, watch, and listen. Now, don’t ask too many questions and just enjoy the fight.” Mathilde smiled, ”You’re an angel of destruction, you love watching fights and destruction, right? There is plenty to see in this fight.”

Diana frowned, ”On my extensive list of two things I want to see destroyed are the abomination and your ugly face. So don’t tempt me to want to watch something fun.”

”Really?” Mathilde smiled, ”Sadly, you’ll never achieve one of those many things.”

Diana glared at her, then smiled, ”Considering that you and Kali are so adamant on trying to hide something about Arad from me, I’m really considering smashing your face in. I know you’re lying, you know exactly why Core would call Arad grandpa, and you’re just trying not to tell me.”

Diana sighed, ”The last thing I want is to have to deal with is heretics among the divine order, last time was far too bloody.”

Diana was already reaching her own conclusions.