The dragon's harem

“Father, what should we do?” A nun approached the father as he sat beside Ann’s body.

“Nothing, it’s in Yog’s hand now. Poor lass bled into her belly and died in seconds. She was already gone when we arrived.” He looked at her, “Sneak around the back, warn everyone. That demon will kill the dragon first for his bloody revenge, and then lump us with him.”

“Can’t you use resurrection magic?” The nun asked. She knew that evacuating the whole city was impossible. There was no way everyone would be able to run away from Arad; he’d hunt them down in minutes.

“Not here, we must be in the church. And even so, this whole place is now bloodsoaked with death and filth. Her body is already damaged, especially the brain.” He shook his head, “Even if I brought her back, she’d never open her eyes again. She’ll be nothing but a breathing corpse, vegetables have more life in them.”

Mary was there, she had tried to heal Ann but reached the same conclusion as the father. Bringing Ann back won’t help anyone, it’ll just make things worse… She growled and rushed toward Ann, “Fine, if she’s in Yog’s hands, we might leave everything for her.”

Mary put her hands together and a massive divine circle emerged in the sky above her. She started bleeding from her nose and ears as her skin burned with divine, falling down like grilled meat.

“STOP! IT SISTER! Using divine magic in such an unholy place, you’ll get burned to ashes.” The father yelled at her. In the same way, you don’t invite a noble to dinner in a dumpster, you don’t invoke a god’s holy magic in an unholy place.

An unholy place doesn’t necessarily mean evil or bad, it just means that the place is at least normal, not a holy land like a church or a temple. The greater the divine magic used, the more a cleric would receive a backlash from casting it away from a holy place.

The logic behind it was simple, powerful divine magic is far too dense and powerful that mere humans can’t handle it, the holy place, be it a church or a temple will act like a cushion that takes the burden. Like trying to move a massive boulder, you might be able to lift it, but you’ll hurt your back, so it’s always better to use a forklift when possible.

But, every rule has an exception, and this one exception is called paladins, like Lydia. Rare humans with talent and courage to wield the power of the gods in their name, most of them die in their first year serving, but those who last for years, or even decades will become literal weapons in their god’s hand, and they alone could show what kind of power a god can grant mortals.

Mary wasn’t a paladin, but a cleric. She managed to force the resurrection spell out, at the expense of her breaking body. The divine magic flickered and sparked with lightning, and suddenly faded away before everyone’s eyes.

The father quickly turned toward Ann, putting his hand on her neck…he put his ear on her chest, and then on her mouth, listening…nothing. “Did the spell fail? No, are you still alive?!” He jumped from his place toward Mary.

“She…” Mary mumbled, “Refused to come back.” Ann’s soul rejected the spell, she died satisfied and that feeling kept even after her death. Walking into the afterlife, she heard Mary’s voice, she saw her, and felt her extended hand. But like how she shot everyone that darest stand in her way, Ann to the end kept that and slapped Mary’s hand away.

“What do you mean for shooting you!” Mary screamed into the heavens.

****

“Ann, here, come back!” Mary called, extending her hand from behind Ann.

Ann slowly turned and looked at her, “Go back before you die, sorry for shooting you before. And, give the filthy beggar some slack.” Ann slapped Mary’s hand away and walked into the light of the afterlife.

****

Mary sighed, she would’ve cried if her eyes weren’t already dry from the divine magic burning her. She stumbled back and sat down, slowly releasing healing magic to cure her wounds. “I would kill if you were still alive.” She growled and turned toward the beach. They didn’t have time to waste, countless fishermen had been washed ashore from the blast and are dying. Mary might look gentle and kind, but she had served as a healer in three wars and saw hell. There was no time to cry over Ann, many other souls were now gasping on the cold and wet sand, clinging to life.

“Let’s go heal everyone. I’ll deal with him when he comes back…” Mary stood and looked at the father, “By the way, that’s Arad Orion. So let’s get to work.”

“Wait, it can’t be! Arad Orion, that devil?” He stood with a terrified face.

“He’s kinder than he looks. Believe me, that bear doesn’t bite unless you hurt him first.” The two of them rushed with the nuns and priests to heal everyone around. After a while when almost everyone had stabilized, Mary looked back toward Ann’s body. They can’t leave her body out in the open for…a woman in ragged clothes is looting Ann’s body. She grabbed the earrings on Ann’s ears and ripped them out, searching and shuffling through her clothes looking for anything worth half a penny, she even took Ann’s eyepatch out to sell later.

“Bitch!” Even Mary who never cursed was caught off guard and yelled, snatched a stone and before she could know it, she had smacked the filthy corpse looter on the head. “Get her!” Mary stood and with a single hop flew toward Ann, kicking the looter in the face.

Two nuns and three priests were nearby so they jumped in, kicking the woman who fell to the ground, stomping the life out of her. In her fit of rage, Mary only aimed for the face, trying to shove her sole in the woman’s eyes, but her pesky hands kept covering her.

After scoring some kicks in, Mary’s blood started to cool down and something rang in her hands, “Give the filthy beggar some slack?” Mary mumbled and flailed her hands, pushing the nuns and priests away from the nearly dead woman.

“Does anyone know her?” Most shook their heads, but one seemed to know her, “Saw her once in the plaza begging, I gave her money but that learned that she steals from shops, pickpockets and even robs children sent by their parents to buy something.” He swiftly jumped behind Mary and gave the woman one last kick to the face, “No wonder this filth would steep so low to loot the dead body of a child.”

“Leave her be for now. Go check on the injured.” Mary growled at him, “Leave her to me, I’ll get to the bottom of this.”

As she and the priest were about to start arguing, a blast roared behind them in the sea. Arad was flying around the dragon, blasting spells as he swung two massive greatswords like they

were nothing.

“Sorry for being late!” Plum’s voice boomed from the mountains, she had flown all the way to the nearest forest to use it as a weapon. In the blink of an eye, all the trees on the side of the mountain facing the sea had turned into massive wooden stakes. Like a massive porcupine, she pointed all of them toward the dragon, ready to fire.

Dark clouds covered the sky as Mesharra ran across the shore, she somehow managed to find a suit of armor and a sword. She jumped over a wooden board and the wind carried her to the waves, surfing her way toward the dragon as she lifted her sword, pointing at the clouds.

“Tempest of the laughing tornado!” She yelled at the top of her lungs a massive cyclone dropped from the clouds, pulling water up as she surfed up inside it. This was one of the strongest spells weather magic could conjure, able to destroy cities whole and wipe fleets of

ships in minutes.

The tornado didn’t come without rain, it probably lifted more water into the sky than air, but that rain didn’t come normal. Black, sharp needs of rancid water, falling like hair. On the shore, Echidna was standing in the middle of a massive blood circle that she drew using the blood of five dead fishermen. Now that she had enough materials she could pull a massive curse, and the dragon was now facing three city-level spells, all rushing at him at once, without counting Arad who cut him like a blender.

Arad looked back, his eyes flashing red as he scanned Mesharra, Plum, and Echidna, calculating their magic, and how it’ll travel and hit so he can dodge it.

“One last roar!” The dragon roared and his body flashed in a brilliant light, exploding into a massive blast as big as Mira’s bombs. The tornado scattered, the cursed hair vanished and Plum’s stakes burned. Arad’s body was swallowed by the fire and ash as the mushroom cloud reached the heavens, ripping half of the city buildings from their roots. Tens of thousands died, but in the dragon’s eyes, they were worth it, all to kill the new evil that was born before his eyes.

The power of an ancient dragon, they aren’t called the doom bringers for no reason. Tens of thousands of dead souls, ruined lives, burned houses, and a dried sea. The only thing that remained was the massive prideful dragon, gasping for air as he admired the horror his claws just brought upon the world.

He didn’t want to resort to this. He could’ve just blasted the pirate ship at the start, but it was

already far too close to the shore, and he had also seen the nearby warship and feared for the crew’s lives. The best outcome was if the pirates dropped the coffin into the sea and sealed it, no one would’ve died, but they forced his hand.

The devil was released, and all hell broke loose. The fight escalated rapidly, and now he had to purge the whole place. He lifted his hands, saying one last prayer for the souls he killed. “Poor souls, I do not seek your forgiveness or understanding. For all I sought was the death of a devil that would cost the world more than what happened today.”

He opened his eyes and looked at the burning shore, “I knew you never agreed to this, but

sacrifices rarely ever get the chance to decide their fates. My Yog takes from me and gives to you in the afterlife, my she throws me into hell so you all can go to the heavens.” He flapped his wings, about to leave.

The dragon stopped, his eyes looking closer at the shore. A massive piece of charcoal emerged from beneath the ash. It crumbled down and Arad appeared standing there with Mary, Echidna, the father, and all the church people behind his back, unharmed. Plum hid behind the

mountain so she was safe.

“That little fairy protected you all with her wood?! And even the devil!” He growled, all of the

sacrifices were in vain.

Echidna who was behind Arad looked at his massive back with a scared face, ^No…that’s not it. Plum was in the mountain, we were outside her range. ^ She looked around, ^I was far away, Mesharra was in the sea, how did we end up here?^

Black tar started seeping from Arad’s left arm as lightning and a violent gust of wind howled from his right arm. He disappeared, and appeared right in front of the dragon’s eyes, glaring back at him with blood-shot eyes. “PRAY!”