The dragon's harem

Amber turned back into a small spirit and hid inside Arad’s clothes. Now that they saved everyone close by and were going to make their way forward, only Arad and Tempo would be moving.

Eris is busy inside Arad’s stomach, healing everyone, and Amber herself would need to focus on controlling the flames writhing in the burning ash to detect and weaken any Ash Spawns that get too close to them.

Tempo ran forward, taking the lead to guide them to the Volcanic Titan’s kingdom. Arad followed right after him, keeping an eye on their surrounding and immediately sucking any injured human or titan into his stomach to be healed by Eris.

While Arad can see Vulkan Damnation’s aura bloating the sky like a cloud of volcanic smoke and ash, he can’t pinpoint the exact location of the monstrous abomination. Tempo on the other hand could pinpoint her exact location.

In fact, Tempo could tell where Vulkan is. Unlike the Storm Titans who didn’t know where Cronos was, the Volcanic Titan knew very well that their founder rested at the depth of the Great Volcano their kingdom was built around. As the Titan’s crown prince, he was born and bred to inherit the throne.

Tempo is a descendant of the Volcanic Titan’s royal family, Vulkan was his great, great, great grandma, and Tempo was supposed to inherit a spark of her flames when the molten crown adorns his head.

What he could sense was that spark, the one that should’ve been his in just a few years. That spark now still rests within Vulkan’s body, and he can sense its presence, thus knowing the exact location of Damnation, the vile abomination wearing his grandmother’s body like a robe.

The two of them blasted through the ash desert, ripping all of the Ash Spawns that Damnation sent at them and saving any living being that they passed by. Humans and Titans were sent to Eris to heal, and dying monsters were turned into Void Creatures to help in the fights against the Ash Spawns.

It was then that Arad noticed something. The monsters’ vicious will carry over when they are transformed into Void Creatures. They loathed the Ash Spawns that burned and injured them and were more than pleased to know that they could sink their teeth into them.

Although most of what Arad managed to save were farm monsters that were too weak for Damnation to bother turning into Ash Spawns, with them gaining bodies of the void, their power had reached a new height. Arad even saw a lamb ram an Ash Spawn and bite its throat off, only for a pack of roosters to fly and peck the Ash Spawn apart, one spec of ash after the other.

In the meantime, Tempo’s sword didn’t seem to know how to miss. All of his moves were calculated and precise, empowered by his flames and harrowing power, and his speed almost surpassed everyone that Arad knew except a small few.

Arad was certain that if Gale, Tyal, and Zenia joined hands to kill Tempo, they would still fail to fatally injure him. Unlike them, he had the will of a warrior, the determination and conviction to fight with his all for what he believed to be right.

As loud and cheerful Tempo, once his sword is drawn, words can’t reach his mind. He had one strong belief; conflicts are best solved by words. But the moment blades are drawn, all words lose their meaning.

Damnation and her Ash Spawns had pushed Tempo into pulling his sword to defend his kingdom and his people; Now, he has no mercy or care for the horrors. Unlike Tyal, who might’ve seen the Cronos Raptur of Zenia as her friend’s corpse, Tempo would’ve seen her as a monster.

While Gale cared about his throne, Tempo cared about his people, and his life wasn’t his alone. He had to live and make sure his people lived as well.

Arad had to think as he watched the Volcanic Prince fight. Arad also cared about his empire, which is now rising, but his first and last goal was protecting his wives and kids, building a safe world for them to live in.

Arad ultimately only cares about the people of his kingdom because they are necessary for his family to thrive in peace.

Arad’s motivations were, at the end of the day, as selfish as Gale’s. He only had a bit more intelligence and smarter wives to steer him. Tempo, on the other hand, was different.

Tempo didn’t have a family to protect. All of his loved ones were Volcanic Titans. Would Arad have cared about humans if he had been born, raised, and married only dragons? He probably wouldn’t, just like he doesn’t care about the animals in his forest, even though he can speak with them just as well as he can with humans.

Arad saw Tempo take a side step and behead a human Ash Spawn with a single swift swing, whispering under his breath, “Rest in peace.” And when he turned around and cleaved a Titan Ash Spawn’s head, he whispered, “May you rest in boiling depth.”

His steps were measured, and his sword never missed, cleaving one Ash Spawn after another like an elaborate dance. Tempo was ruthless, swift, and respectful to both the Titans and the humans he put to rest. Arad even noticed that Tempo used a different fighting style to finish each one.

Tempo used a human-made fighting style to slay the human Ash Spawns and give them an end at the hands of their kin so they could rest. He also slayed the Titan Ash Spawns with what he once told Arad was the Royal Sword Style of the Volcanic Titans.

Arad wasn’t sure that humans cared about which style they got killed with, but Titans might’ve cared and wanted to die. Probably rooted in their inborn sense of superiority, not wanting to die by an art created by lesser beings.

Tempo has taken his race’s arrogance and turned it into honor. The fighters of the Volcanic Titans can die in peace, knowing that they weren’t killed by a monster, or by a weak human, they were ultimately slayed by their best, the burning blade of their Royal Prince.

Arad should learn a thing or two from him. Unlike with Tyal where Arad needed to plan everything so she could reach the throne and allow her parents to live while her grandfather freely existed, now Arad feels that he can let Tempo take the lead. Charge into his kingdom and make things right.

Tyal was thrust into the role of a princess, Tempo on the other hand was a king with a burning conviction.