The dragon's harem

The first thing that Arad saw was a flash, and by the time he lifted his arms, the whole flew in front of him in the blink of an eye as both his arms shattered like old rotten wood. His body flew backward so fast that the air friction ignited him like a meteor, and he could already guess what hit him.

It wasn’t a physical attack or a regular spell. It was a compressed wave of Mana, a force as solid as matter but much, much more powerful. It was similar to a shockwave, but instead of being made from compressed air, it was made out of Mana.

He didn’t see which one of the twins cast the Mana shockwave. But he now thinks it was Rey who had her arm up. Those blue eyes, he must keep following them and expect more shockwave attacks like this one.

Sadly, before Arad could finish that thought, Ray was already upon him. Unlike all of his foes, she didn’t swing a weapon, her fists, or even cast a spell.

Ray was the one who teleported him here and shuffled through many worlds to find a suitable one. He expects that her main skill is related to teleportation or world travels, more like Vorvadoss, but he still needs to confirm that. He has to be careful since nothing prevents her from teleporting his head and leaving his body here. His body will survive with just the spine, and that is technically all those two would need to keep his important bits working.

To avoid any more damage, Arad covered himself with Vorvadoss’s space magic and teleported right behind where he could sense Rey’s signal. In fact, he quickly halted that plan right before committing to it. He was a mere adult trying to face two greatwyrms. This time, Arad wasn’t stronger than them. They were several times more powerful than him. Getting behind them only meant eating a nasty tail swipe or a back-kick.

Arad teleported to Rey, but after casting a slow time around the location where he was about to appear, and making that location in Rey’s path, not her current location. When Arad emerged, he found himself looking straight at Rey, who was flying toward him at blinding speed, and he could already guess that Ray was already coming from behind him.

Covering his whole body with all the barriers that Kayden taught him, he braced to catch Rey’s burning fist. That wasn’t a metaphor. Her fist was literally on fire, igniting the air like a meteor from the sheer speed.

Rey’s fist blew right through Arad’s guard and reached his face, rocking his head and ripping a tooth out. To his bad luck, he didn’t even have a chance to recoil as Ray smacked his back with a heavy kick that almost shattered his spinal cord if he didn’t take an extreme measure and store it in his void stomach, leaving only bones and muscles on his frame with just enough nerves for them to work efficiently.

He had just learned how to improve his shapeshifting ability from Malina. If he didn’t have that knowledge, the two maids might already be humping his motionless body.

Arad forced himself to regain his balance by using gravity magic to stabilize his body and kill all the momentum transferred to him by the powerful attacks, only to realize that he and the two maids were now inside the heart of a burning explosion.

What was more harrowing is that the explosion source was his own arms and lower back, vaporized upon contact with the two attacks like how a meteor would vaporize the ground when striking.

Of course, he could only thank his pricolici blood and Kali’s divine magic. If not for those two furiously fighting to keep healing and regenerating his flesh, the two maids might not even find something to play with afterward.

Arad had long used to overpowering his enemies with sheer power, and even in the worst case, he still had a chance at victor, a clear path. But now, he was completely overwhelmed, like those days when he was but a wyrmling still struggling against the vast world.

It was less than a second since the fight started, and he was already getting ganged on by the two maids. Even if those two were far stronger and more capable than him, they didn’t seem to be giving him any slack, going straight for violence and ruthless tactics. Even if just one of them is far stronger than Arad, they’ll still work together to stomp him even further.

This situation had awoken something within Arad, and not the mystical or magical type, just a primal instinct, the one to rip and tear. It was time for him to fight for his life, to fight for the right to mate, to fight for his share of the world.

A hand burst through the fire and grabbed Rey by the face, while the other grabbed her by the neck. She lifted her hand to grab both, but two more arms emerged from behind her and caught her by the wrists.

She blinked but wasn’t surprised. Arad didn’t know anything about their powers, but they knew everything about his power from Isdis.

At this very moment, four Arad were in the fight, two towering above each one of the twins. He had recalled all of his incarnations back to turn the tables and be the one ganging up on the twins.

“I thought the mating fights were supposed to be fair, the dragon against the drakaina, one on one,” Arad asked. Two of his incarnations did at the same time, the two who were looking directly at the twins.

“We’re twins. You either get both of us or none of us.” The twins replied with a single voice. They were a package deal and only went together. If Arad wants one, he has to fight them both and then take both.

The fight immediately exploded again, but this time, Arad faired marginally better. The whole battle split into two halves, one for Rey and the other for Ray, each of which faced two incarnations.

Arad’s plan was simple: while one of the twins is beating one of his incarnations, he’ll use the other incarnation to attack, and when they turn on the attacking incarnation, the beaten one would’ve healed, and it’ll attack from the back.

Rey and Ray seemed to hold just fine, finding his attacks mildly annoying, if only by a bit. Their speed and power far outclassed Arad just by the fact they were older, so having one more or a hundred more of Arad meant nothing.

That was Arad’s catch. Those incarnations weren’t more Arads. They were one Arad, controlled by one brain, that could plan and play the long game, slowly trying to push the twins into a trap.

What was that trap? Even Arad didn’t know yet, but he’ll figure it out through the fight. That is what he is betting on, and that is why he must prepare for the unknown trap he’ll conjure in the future.