The dragon's harem

As bullets flew everywhere and shadows danced like mad demons, Altair and Grace’s fight shattered the ground and turned a large chunk of the desert into a burning battlefield.

Arad watched in silence from afar, noting several things about the fight.

The first of which was that Grace didn’t react to any magic specifically. Even light spells cast by Altair’s bullets seemed to have no effect at all.

It was clear that Altair was the one losing the battle despite her advantage at the start. Once the element of surprise faded away and Grace started to see some patterns in her moves, dodging the bullets and taking the lead wasn’t that difficult.

At this rate, Altair is the one that’s going to end up on the ground, it isn’t even a challenge for Grace. But this didn’t mean the girl didn’t give the shadow drakaina a scare. No, she actually managed to land several deadly wounds that would’ve lasted Grace decades to heal if this was a real fight and no one was going to heal them after. And what’s more, if this was a real fight, Altair could’ve just wounded Grace with her initial attack and then fled using a void step.

Seeing this fight made Arad understand that while void dragons are powerful, they are especially good at guerrilla warfare, attack quickly in small teams, and then bolt it out. Hit-and-run tactics are the best.

Arad could also see that Grace reacted to some specific things as well. He couldn’t help but feel that the reason she could see him was different from both Altair and Luminous.

Now that Arad had something else to test besides magic, he called the fight off and healed the two of them while he sent a message to Aella outside, asking her to get some people ready.

Minutes later, he left and returned in the company of several people, which surprised both Altair and Grace.

Mesharra, Mary, Echidna, Plum, Gamond, Salamander, Undyne, and lastly, Arad brought Lala, the succubus nun, for good measure.

As Arad expected, Grace could see Mesharra, Mary, Echidna, Plum, and Undyne.

Those are the people from Yog’s world.

It made some sense.

They aren’t from this world. Grace’s madness started on the border between this world and the shadow realm, not Yog’s world.

So what about Luminous? Arad suspects that it was just because Luminous didn’t have a shadow. She was a being of light, a radiant figure that couldn’t cast a shadow. The sun, for example, has no shadow. But Arad didn’t throw the idea that Luminous might’ve come from another world out yet.

Grace couldn’t see Gamond or Lala. He honestly expected Grace to see Gamond since she was a drakaina that surpassed the twilight, but he was wrong. Twilight has nothing to do with it.

Lala’s case was strange. The moment she and Grace met, Arad felt a strange magic surge inside Lala’s body. The succubus approached Grace and glared at her straight in the eyes.

“Poor child, lost between shadows and light, between life and death, between reality and illusion.” She closed her eyes and then looked at Arad. “I advise you to make sure she reaches Gracie, the goddess of life and death. She will know what to do with her.”

Arad smiled, “I expected you to know something. Care to explain?”

“She was both incepted and born in the border between the shadow realm and this world. While she lives here, she can only see the world’s mirror image of the shadow realm.” Lala waved her hand around and approached Arad, “Those are outsiders. They’ve got no shadow in the shadow realm, so she can only see their figure in the real world. Luminous is a problem, though.”

Arad noticed Lala’s sore face. “Why?”

“I heard Gracie speak of her several decades ago, called her blinding bitch. The woman has no shadow in the shadow realm. In fact, her mirror image there is as radiant as her body in the real world. She is the only thing in the shadow realm that is bright, and even the sun there is dark.” She shrugged, “But I’m sure the sun’s part is thanks to a deal between her and Amaterasu.”

“I see, but that doesn’t explain one thing. Why can she see me? I was born in this world, I’ve got a shadow, and I’m not a light dragon-like Luminous.”

Arad was right. He was an odd one based on Lala’s theory. Grace shouldn’t be able to see him, but she indeed does, and the dark elf goddess had asked him personally to find and help her. So, where does he fall in all of this?

“Honestly, no clue.” Lala had already stated all she knew. Grace’s situation is related to this world and its shadow realm, so special cases like Luminous are an exception. This only leaves Arad to be an exception, like the light drakaina.

“So? More people? Is this some kind of elaborate joke?” She glared at Arad, then her eyes stopped at Gamond, “Are you shadows keeping a zoo of living beings to pull out whenever you need?”

“The hell you’re talking about?” Gamond smiled, “Are you the crazy one Arad wanted me to hunt a whale for? Sure made me swim a lot.”

It was then that Grace remembered the ice that kept the whale cool. It was Gamond’s ice.

“Hold up, you’re the one with a daughter? What’s your relationship with Arad?” She approached her, and Gamond smiled.

“His wives. Took my daughter as a wife. I’m just a bonus.” Gamond shrugged, “Some goddess of magic said that he must take my daughter as a wife and take me just to be on the safe side. I’m enjoying myself, so I got no complaints.”

Grace then looked at Arad with a shocked and horrified face, “Just… how many wives do you have?”

“Many, a lot, a whole lot of them, enough to fill a castle and many more.” Arad smiled, his fists resting on his hips.

“And most of them are shadows?”

“They are alive and well. None of them is a shadow. You’re just seeing them at that. What do you think I’m here doing if not trying to set you straight?”