The dragon's harem

Arad returns to the Hati’s house with the same magic Kayden showed him. Out of all the spells that he learned, teleportation magic was the strangest and the best. By changing the nature of the magic and its parameters, it allows him to teleport almost anywhere as long as he gets the numbers right or has a beacon that pins the location he wants to teleport to.

He stood alone in the middle of the healing room where he was before all of this mess, his eyes darted around sensing the magic surrounding him, meticulously counting his wives and everyone with an obsession akin to madness. Only after confirming that all of them were indeed present and well that his heart rate finally slowed down.

A deep sigh escaped Arad’s throat as he dropped on the chair beside him, leaning back with a growl. His family is saved right now, that might not be the case in the future, but at least for now, he can relax a bit.

The moment his conciseness finally relaxed, he remembered why he came back rushing, Mira had called him to come and check the weapon she made for him. She is already getting impatient, waiting in the workshop outside.

Arad walked out of the healing room and saw Astrid walking by, carrying a large silver platter filled with strange potions and empty parchments. She had two rolls of fine silk and linen strapped to her back and a small satchel of needles and threads hanging from her belt. She looked at Arad and gasped, “You’re back!”

“Yes. Are you taking those to Merlin?” He looked at what she was carrying; it was clear that Merlin was planning to enchant her clothes for the coming battle. She has been meticulously preparing for the past few days, and she always seems to be working on something new.

“Forget about this! Mom said you went to face that Demon Lord Alaric…” She looked at him, “You retreated?”

“No, he’s dead.” Arad replied with a passive face, “Alongside the other one living in the layer below him.” He wasn’t lying, and Astrid could understand that.

“The one below him…Sawless, the vile demon lord of disfiguration…” She couldn’t believe her ears. “You killed them? Both?”

“Of course. Why would I let them live? Alaric tried to kill Eris and ended up almost killing Lunara. I don’t have any mercy for him, or anyone supporting him.” Arad could understand the difference between Alaric who attempted to kill one of his wives, and Lunara who just threatened to take such an action. Threat and attempted murder are similar, but not the same.

He walked past Astrid, “I’m going to see Mira. See you later.” As he walked away, she stared at his wide back. She had known he was powerful, a dragon strong enough that Kayden came to personally train him. But not once in her wildest dreams, she dreamt of him killing two demon lords in less than an hour.

Even now with him being so close, she couldn’t sense a shred of that power. He looked nothing more than a normal human, even his magic was calm and collected. Astrid turned back and continued her way to Merlin’s room, Arad living rent-free in her head.

Arad soon walked out of the back door and into the backyard; Mira who sat in the workshop immediately spotted him and rushed with an excited yet worried face. “Arad! You’re back!” The closer she got to him the more worried her expressions became.

“Hati said you’ve gone to fight demon lord. Did you get hurt?” She looked closer at his arms and legs. He didn’t look wounded, but this was Arad and he could regenerate. Her divine eyes were looking for traces of regenerated flesh. But thankfully, he seemed to be doing fine.

“You made a weapon for me?” Arad patted her head, “Where is it? Let’s see what you made.” He ran his hand down her neck and tapped her back.

Mira gasped, quickly turning back and pointed at the workshop. In the corner of that old shed was a large 2-meter-long staff with a large empty glass sphere on the top, surrounded by wooden branches. Even though everything was dusty, the staff looked awfully clean, as if someone had spent minutes wiping and polishing it out.

Arad and Mira walked into the workshop and she approached the staff. She lifted it up and gave it one last look, fearing that there was a deformity that she didn’t spot. But the staff was indeed perfect, what remained was to see if her gamble actually worked.

“Arad, you know I’ve been learning to work glass, right?” She looked at him, lifting the staff up. “I’m still not that good at it, but I’ve at least managed to make this.” She caressed the glass sphere with one of her hands. “Do you know what’s inside?”

Arad looked at the glass, it was clear and hollow. Nothing was inside. “Nothing, it’s empty.” “Exactly.” Mira smiled, “There is nothing inside. It’s empty, no air, no magic, nothing, pure void.” She lifted the staff up and handed it to Arad, “Try it. I hope it works.”

Arad took the staff from Mira’s hand and inspected it. A staff is supposed to amplify the destructive power of magic by using a core to magnify spells. The core Mira made is a glass orb with a void inside, usually that won’t do anything, it’s just glass, with nothing inside.

Arad rested the staff on his shoulder and lowered his arm, “Come on, let’s go test it out.” He said and Mira stared at his arm, “Where? Hati said her training ground is still under repair.”

“To somewhere else, where no one would bother us.” He replied, and Mira hesitantly sat on his forearm. He lifted her up, carrying her close to his chest. “Take a deep breath, we’re going to teleport quite far away.”

In the blink of an eye, Mira found herself with Arad in a strange land. Long burned black hills, a rocky ceiling for a sky, and a large pale sphere plunged into the ground. The charred trees at their sides seemed to bear crying faces, and the horrid scent of rotten flesh only reached her for a fraction of a second before Arad’s magic and her divine aura cleaned everything.

“Where are we?” she asked.

“The abyss, Alaric’s layer. Now it’s mine it seems.” Arad put Mira down and she stared at the massive wasteland, “Merlin said that humans can’t survive in the abyss.” She looked at Arad. “You aren’t a human, you’re a demi-goddess.” Arad brushed the hair away from her cheek, “And I’m here to protect you. Not a single demon in this hellhole would even dare look you in the eyes.”

Arad waved his hand and a wooden chair appeared. He gently put it on the ground, “Take a seat behind me. I’ll try some magic spells with and without the staff.”

Mira took a seat and looked at Arad extending his arm toward the pale moon. She held her breath, fearful that her staff might prove useless.

Arad charged a spell, a large red fireball 10 meters in width. The fireball crackled and started spinning, turning blue in color before he flung it into the horizon. As the ball landed, it exploded in a massive rose of pure inferno that reached up to 100 meters in height. This was Arad’s normal fireball, a powerful spell that not many wizards could match.

Arad then pulled the staff and pointed it forward, “Are you ready? Let’s see how this magic staff stacks up.”

Mira’s hands started shaking as she couldn’t take her eyes off the staff. She was confident in the wood that Mora brought from the world tree, but not the glass she made. She didn’t know even if her void idea would even work.

Arad charged his magic, feeling mana getting sucked from his arms into the blessed wood of the world tree. The glass sphere rumbled, magic sparking inside it like it was a plasma lamp. As the fireball emerged, it was indeed the same as before, 10 meters in width and burning bright crimson. A second later, it heated up until it became pale blue. Mira’s breaths grew heavier, until now, nothing had changed about his magic. Her staff is looking worse and

worse as time passes by.

But suddenly, the fireball sparked, turning white. With a blast, it expanded in size almost doubling up to 18 meters in width. Then the pale white flames changed color, growing darker and darker until it turned into a fireball with a black core and pale grey flames on the outside. It had heated up to the point that it could burn light passing inside it. Mira’s eyes opened wide, and Arad smiled, “This is great, better than any staff I’ve ever used.” He giggled, “I bet brother would be jealous.” He flung the fireball into the horizon. It flew at a blinding speed before landing where the first one did. After a bright white spark, a massive white fireball almost one kilometer wide emerged on the site, exploding into a massive explosion of fire and debris.

Mira blanked out for a second, finding herself in Arad’s arms as he flew with her outside the explosion’s range.

Mira had created an artifact akin to the exploding nipple knife. A staff with nothing as a core, amplifying the magic of void dragons.