The dragon's harem

She could see Altair, which was a bit of a surprise.

At first, Arad thought that Grace’s psychosis made her see people weaker than her as shadows. But since she couldn’t see Kali, that idea was immediately debunked. It wouldn’t even make sense in the first place, as he was stronger than her.

Arad wanted to test many things, but Grace ended up carrying herself and went inside the vault and met Luminous. From what Arad understood, she could see it without suffering any damage from the blinding radiance.

This could be just due to elemental compatibility, like shadows dampening the light, but would that make sense for her to see Arad and Altair? Probably, since the void is the lack of anything and everything, including light, the same way as shadows.

That would be reasonable but not a clear answer, and Arad wanted a clear rule. He understands that trying to find reason within madness is a fool’s errand, but he has been a fool for a long while and doesn’t mind remaining one.

Altair approached Arad and looked at the shadow drakaina, “Is this her? The one called Grace?”

“Are you ready?” Arad nodded, and Altair smiled. “Of course.”

“You’ll fight her for a while so I can see how your magic is flowing. That might help me understand what defect you have, if any.” Arad looked at Grace, “We must leave no stone unturned.”

Grace looked at Altair for a long second and then sighed, “Arad, she is far weaker than you. Won’t it be better if I fought you?”

“I need to observe, and I think Altair is just strong enough to pull out your best.” He reached forward, touched their shoulders, and teleported them into a vast, empty desert. Yes, this was the same desert he and Nina trashed.

When they landed, it was nighttime, and Arad looked around, took a deep breath, and pointed at a distant mountain. “I’ll be watching from there. And Altair, do your best not to kill her.”

Grace lifted an eyebrow, “You serious? She kills me?”

“Never underestimate a void dragon, no matter how young. I’m the clear example.” He then teleported away, leaving the two standing alone.

“Young one, I’ll be gentle.” Grace lifted her arm, and her nails turned into claws. “I’ve seen many living people today. I’m in a good mood for mercy. But I have to ask, are you one of his wives?”

“That’s correct,” Altair replied without wasting any breath, causing Grace to smile.

“Then I still have to beat you up. To climb the ranks. Sorry in advance.”

Arad watched and listened to them from afar, which caused him to faintly smile. He knew what underestimating Altair meant.

When Grace blinked, Altair was already pointing a massive rifle at her head, a giant punt gun that was made by Mira and belonged to Arad. He gave it to her since she was the best one to use it, thanks to her unique way of using her void.

Each void dragon uses his void differently from others, albeit they have the same basic abilities. Altair has her stomach stuffed full of firearms and cannons, which she uses as weapons. She then teleports rounds straight into the guns from her stomach, eliminating the need for reloading, and what most, she can enchant the bullets with her void or any element she conjures.

Grace was now looking down the massive barrel, watching as a pound of lead flew at her head. The bullet was fast, but she was still fast enough to dodge.

With a single jump, Grace got away from the bullet’s trajectory, watching as the burning mass of metal ripped through the air with ease. ^Mundane weapons? Is she crazy?^

As a matter of fact, Altair might’ve been crazy. The bullet disappeared mid-air, and Grace felt something heavy hit her back, cracking her hard scales.

While Altair could teleport the bullets from her stomach to her guns, she could also do the same inside her range of magic control, which is a radius of 40 kilometers, as long as she could get a visual of her target.

“I see. Neither those guns nor rounds are mundane.” Grace growled as she dissipated into shadows, emerging from Altair’s shadow behind her, baring her claws for a strike.

Without looking, Altair pointed her hand back, and a blunderbuss was already pointing at Grace’s head. BANG! When the shot was fired, Grace barely dodged, having a tiny bit of her ear nicked off. She growled and tried to counter, but it was already too late as several muskets floated above Altair’s head, pointing down, already firing.

Grace danced around Altair and put the void drakaina between her and the barrels. She then didn’t waste any time to swing an attack, only to find out that Altair already switched the punt gun for a shotgun.

BANG! She blasted her in the face, and the pellets were enchanted to suppress dragons, the same way the anti-dragon shackles worked.

Having her face blasted with a shotgun, Grace felt strangely weak, and that only got worse when she tried to dodge the second shot and failed, thanks to her getting weaker from the first shot. And with that, Altair unloaded four rounds on her face before she could get away.

This time, Grace didn’t even try to face Altair directly. She must get away and escape her sight. Only then could she carry a sneak attack. The fact that her rounds can teleport is cheating. That meant dodging her attacks was nearly impossible as long as she saw her target.

It only took Grace a few seconds to escape into the shadows and appear a kilometer away. She hoped that from this distance, she could blend into the shadows and make it a bit harder for Altair to track her.

Altair pulled a large sniper rifle from her stomach and fired a shot in the general direction where she could feel Grace’s mana. As the bullet flew away, Altair mixed her mana sense into it, turning it into a beacon of her magic the same way Arad did when throwing stones with his tail. The moment her beacon sensed a strong enough magic signal, she teleported to it with a void step, appearing just a few meters away from where Grace was hiding.

Grace gasped, but at that time, a barrel was already pointed at her.

****

Arad smiled atop the mountain. It was quite entertaining to watch someone struggle against Altair’s weird fighting style. But he had a job to do now, to see how Grace’s magic would react to Altair’s bullets. As each of those bullets has a different effect bound to them, it might shed light on Grace’s condition.