The dragon's harem

Chapter 1785: An Inevitable Stalemate

”Stop it, neither of you would be able to kill the other.” Arad pulled the two apart, looked at them for a moment, then had to explain exactly why they won’t win. While Sally looked happy to get some personal space, Merida looked really sad to have gotten away from him.

”You both boast an incredible physical strength, speed, durability, and regeneration. On top of that, each of you is bound to something, so they won’t die.” Arad pointed at Merida, ”You got Kino, and as long as she is alive in your layer, you’ll never die here.”

He then pointed at Sally, ”And you’re bound to your layer, as long as it’s not burned to the ground and the rot there still thrives, you’ll never die.” He smiled, ”So fighting here is meaningless. It is why I sent her here without fearing that you might just kill her.”

Sally sighed. ”Isn’t it a bit weird to...” She then scratched her head. ”You said your favorite type is a tall woman with wide hips and a lot of aggression. I guess she fits the bill.” Complaining to Arad about one of his wives being a bit too violent is counterproductive; he is the reason they are like this, that’s why he gathered them in the first place.

Hearing that, Merida blushed, causing Sally to call her creepy. She wasn’t praising her one bit. Sally understood that Arad is a dragon and aggression runs in their blood; she also understood that Merida is a demon, and the way she acted is the norm for demons. But she was also smart enough to understand that it wasn’t the normal way to act in the current situation, especially with human maids being around.

Arad then pointed at Sally, ”Have you spent a moment looking around yet? What do you think of this place?”

What did he mean by that? Besides the maids, whom she actively avoided dragging into this fight. As much as she wanted to kill Merida and steal her power, that maid who shaved, washed, and flushed her rear end was quite skilled, gentle, and professional in her job. She’ll spare her life even if she were to kill everyone else, and besides all of that, if she caused too many problems, Kali might come and kill her.

If Arad wasn’t talking about that, then he is probably referring to the nature of this place.

Sally looked around, ”This is something like an elemental expansion of that white-haired wizard. What was her name again?” She had seen Merlin earlier before they got into the bath, and from that brief contact, she was certain Merlin was one of the strongest wizards she had ever seen. Definitely top three.

”Merlin, yes. You’re right, but aren’t you missing something? Take another look?” Arad pointed up, and Sally followed his finger, looked at the stars for a long moment, then paled. What she saw was baffling.

”Wait... it can’t be!” As she cried, Merida smiled, having snuck closer to Arad and grabbed his flesh. ”AH, you didn’t know? But you can’t kill me here for several more reasons. The biggest of them all is that we’re inside his stomach.” She leaned on Arad with a smug smile, tapped his abs, then licked them down from his chest to his flesh. ”Touch me, and he’ll digest you in the blink of an eye.”

That wasn’t the only thing getting in Sally’s way. Kali supported both of them as demon lords, and in this fight, she didn’t want any of them to win, so she had been healing and buffing them with extra demonic magic.

The two could fight for a hundred years, and neither of them would fall. But among them both, Merida had the strongest healing factor, because unlike Sally, who only had Kali on her back, she had much more.

Eris, Mira, Cerilla, and even Merlin, as they were technically in her maze. All of them actively and passively worked to prevent harm from coming to themselves and to the other members of Arad’s harem. Merida might not worship any of them, but they still kept an eye on her and always were there to send support, the same way she would fight for them when needed.

Scratch my back, and I’ll scratch yours. This was the base upon which Arad’s entire harem was built. From the humble maids and servants up to the divine goddesses like Eris, and even to Arad himself, who stood on a whole different dimension of power, this one rule was held true.

When a maid serves one of the wives, helping her wear her clothes, cleaning her room, or even just walking by her side, this was them contributing in the best way they could with their power. If any of them were to come to harm, like what happened with Lexi when her village was attacked, the wives are bound to move, and at that time, Aella did move and wipe the threat like a hurricane.

A simple maid, new and having being in service for just a couple of hours could possibly mobilize people so powerful that even an army couldn’t stop, sometime they’ll even cause a divine being like Eris to act, and in rare cases, if they were lucky, and whoever harmed them unlucky, a pure darkness of nothing would fall from the night sky, a terror capable of killing gods and abominations alike, Arad Orion himself would move.

So, Sally and Merida here can’t kill a simple maid or servant, let alone one of their own.

TAP! As they stood there, a hand no larger than one of Arad’s fingers hit the ground, then evaporated into a mist of demonic magic. They looked up, and saw Zephyr and Aloe fighting.

”This one wanted to kill me, but that one wanted to kill Zephyr and betray us. I could sense her threat. What should we do?” Merida pulled Arad’s flesh from her throat and looked up at him, and he shrugged. ”She can’t defeat Zephyr. Let’s just watch for now, and I’ll stop them if things go badly.”

Aloe flew upward as fast as she could, engulfed by a hurricane of violent demonic wind. She needed those winds to disrupt and deflect Zephyr’s attacks. She didn’t know yet if any of her attacks could work, but she had to try now that the fight started.

As she approached Zephyr, something tore her right arm, just like her left arm had been torn a second ago. She couldn’t see it, but had a feeling that it was an invisible blade of compressed wind. The pressure helps them withstand Aloe’s demonic wind barrier without getting disrupted or deflected.

”What are you doing? Don’t tell me that the only improvement you had was adding demonic magic on top of your spirit magic?” In that moment, Zephyr flashed past her at blinding speed and smacked her in the face so hard that she sent her flying to the ground with a shockwave. Aloe couldn’t even tell if what hit her was a fist, a kick, or just magic.

Aloe hit the ground like a meteor, jumped back to her feet, and took a leap backward, barely avoiding Zephyr, who crashed right after her with a stomp.

”You demon!” Aloe cried, unable to believe the terrifying, sadistic smile that was on Zephyr’s face. It was the same last time. In the past, Aloe had challenged Zephyr for a fight for the title of the Spirit Queen, only to get beaten and kicked out of the grove.

”Aren’t you the demon?!” Zephyr ran after Aloe and punched her in the face. ”Out of all the spirits, I’m the most proud, arrogant, prideful, sadistic, and violent. But to keep myself tame, I had to starve myself, humiliate myself, and bind myself to the mortals so I’ll never forget my role.”

She punched her in the face with a right hook, followed by a slap, a backhand slap, a kick to the groin, a knee to the face, and a spinning kick right to the neck. When Aloe was thrown back and rolled on the ground, she barely avoided three stomps that were directed at her face.

”We spirits are here to maintain the natural order in the countless worlds. Our job isn’t to get drunk on power and abuse our standing.” She grabbed Aloe by the hair with her toes and threw her away. When fighting in close-quarter combat and without the use of magic, Zephyr might have the most insane fighting style out of everyone.

To Zephyr, her arms and legs were almost the same thing the same way she can run on her hands, or use them to jump, she could also grip and use weapons with her toes.

”If you can’t understand that, then you need a bit more discipline.” Zephyr lifted one finger and compressed a ball of air above it so much that it collapsed into plasma.

”It is my job to keep the fairies under control after all.” With a passive face, Zephyr released the pressure she had accumulated into a single beam akin to the breath of a purple dragon like Eris, all aimed at Aloe’s face.

They were a few meters apart, but that distance was basically point-blank with that much power. If hit directly, Aloe won’t survive. If the average demon lord was a ten, then the Zephyr standing in front of her now was a fifteen, a creature so powerful that it was unbelievable.

CLAP! Aloe clapped her hands and then extended them forward. ”You arrogant Queen! You underestimate me too much!”