The dragon's harem

Euri dodged Arad’s swing by a hairbreadth, almost losing an eye. He then twisted his torso and threw his arm forward, thrusting the halberd forward like a spear.

Arad smacked the halberd aside with his three-section staff and closed the distance. Before Euri could move away, Arad smacked him in the chest, the shoulder, and the thighs in rapid succession enough to drop him down.

Euri was fighting for his life, but Arad was on auto-pilot, only thinking about the fight enough to keep Euri alive. The goal of this fight was to buy him time in the arena, and now he has to think of a way to deal with the array that boosts Gale’s reaction speed.

Out of the three arrays, this one would’ve given Gale the biggest edge. Since Tyal far outclassed him in reaction speed, or so Arad hoped. Due to the huge difference in level between Gale and Tyal, Arad is sure that the fight could end up one-sided in Tyal’s favor.

Those arrays might’ve leveled the playing field and allowed Tyal and Gale to fight on closer terms, but there was an inherent problem with that. Gale is older than Tyal. He is her father and has lived far longer than her. He had enough time to level up and grow stronger. Tyal being of a higher level than him was almost comical and a huge joke.

Arad might’ve understood if Gale was old and had regressed a lot, but he wasn’t that old. You can even say he is just at his prime, like a human in his mid-forties.

What Arad was afraid of was Gale being a surprise monster like Alcott. Even when Alcott’s level dropped to double-digit as his curses ate his body, he was still a powerful fighter and almost peerless. Because while the body might weaken, the mind driving it won’t. Alcott’s ingrained skills remained itched into his body and mind, driving his blade forth with the lethality of a dragon slayer.

So, knowing that levels aren’t the only measure of power, is there a way to use Gale’s reaction speed against him through the array while still not making it obvious that someone tampered with it?

There was only one option. ^Can it not be a flat increase? Put a weak limitation on how much he can use it.^

Alice replied after a moment of silence, ^I’ll remove the stress relief part of the array. The more he uses it, the dizzier he’ll get. It’ll put a decent load on his mind and make him lose balance more times than he could hit Tyal. Give me a few minutes. I’ll need half an hour for everything. Hold the fool for at least that long.^

With the three barriers decided, now Arad only had to stall the fight for the next. He dodged the kid’s halberd swings and countered with ease. This fight wasn’t anything special to him, but Euri was putting his life on the line, straining every muscle in his body to keep up with Arad’s speed.

Even the crowd knew that Arad wasn’t going all out. If Claug could carry a massive monster and fly with it, Arad is bound to be able to display a really harrowing physical might.

Most of the spectators thought that Arad was just giving Euri some face. They started booing the fight, wanting to see it end quickly. As much as the Titans loved to watch fights, they hated nothing more than a one-sided battle. And besides, most of them didn’t like Euri due to his troubling personality.

Euri wasn’t a stranger to trouble and had his fair share of them, most started by nothing besides his own hands and belt of a tongue. Everyone was certain this fight had started because he kept swinging his tongue in Arad’s face. They wished to see Karma punish the brat even if just once, and now that he angered Arad, one punch and a few broken teeth were what the crowd wanted to see.

But this was a first, even with how relatively weak Euri was, no one dared fight him because he was the adopted son of Gale. Euri’s words were right, even if Gale wasn’t his true father, he was still his current adopted father. Thanks to that, he was never pushed this hard in a fight without anyone trying to help him.

Arad wasn’t holding back that much as well. With healing magic being a thing, Arad didn’t mind breaking the brat’s nose or sending him flying with a well-placed kick to the liver. It didn’t help that Euri was strangely durable, jumping back stronger than before after each time he fell down.

It was a bit strange, through the whole fight, Euri had grown stronger, not weaker.

It took a while, but Doma noticed something. The brat was cursed, she didn’t know by who or what, but there was a curse engulfing his soul. A curse of hatred. The more he is hated, scorned, and mocked, the stronger he’ll become.

Arad thought about what if Gale was a hidden powerhouse like Alcott, and what if Tyal got surprised in her fight. But he should’ve really taken his own advice.

It happened in a fraction of a second, but something changed about Euri, and before Arad could react, a three-headed trident pierced his left arm, and cleaved it off.

Arad’s eyes quickly moved and he caught his arm before it could fall off. Then with a swift move, he attached it back and looked behind him at Euri, who stood there with a burning red trident in his hands.

Euri wasn’t cursed, and Doma realized the difference too late. His soul was the source of the curse.

Arad smiled. “How surprising, a devil’s curse. Didn’t smell that on you before.”

Euri looked confused as well as he looked at the burning trident in his hands. He then looked up, noticing that the crowd was nowhere to be seen, replaced by an endless darkness. Arad covered the whole arena in his expansion the moment the trident appeared.

“You’re a sorcerer, a devil bloodline sorcerer to be exact and your curse as far as I can tell, is hatred.” Arad approached him and Euri pointed the trident at him. “You! What did you do to me?”

“Me? Nothing.” Arad smiled, “It’s probably the crowd. Many people gathered here to watch Gale and Tyal fight, their hatred and displeasure with you helped awaken your hatred curse.”

Euri kept his guard, not willing to believe a single word coming out of Arad’s mouth. Arad himself couldn’t believe that Euri wounded him. It was the combination of all of those people powering him up, and Arad focusing on fighting the stupid Lava Krakens.