The dragon's harem

Mathilde looked serious, but Arad wasn’t a fool to take her words for granted. He knows that she fought Sylph in the past and won multiple times, but that is only while Sylph doesn’t consciously pull the plug. All angels lived and thrived on the divine magic given to them by their god, and Mathilde wasn’t any different. If Sylph stopped feeding her, she’ll fall like a witch’s broom that ran out of mana.

So while Mathilde is objectively as powerful as Sylph when she goes all out, she also can’t defeat her in a death battle.

This means that Arad only has himself and Kali to count on. He has many powerful wives and allies, but besides his brother, most of them can’t stand face to face with a higher god.

Thinking about it, Arad wondered which side Kayden would take if he started a battle with Sylph. If Kali sided with Arad, Kayden most likely would join her, and he is known as the God Slayer.

Arad sighed, “How long do we have until we reach the top of the tree?”

“Not that much. We should be there in a day or two, if we don’t run into anything that stalls us.” Mathilde looked around at the maids and vampires, and her eyes quickly shifted back to Cerilla and the others. “What could stall us, them probably.”

Cerilla smiled, “You think I’ll let my desires get the better of me? You’re wrong. We’ll move straight away without wasting any time. We’ll have our fun after.”

Arad looked at them with a passive face. He would rather slow down and have more time to plan and prepare. As much as Cerilla trusts Sylph, he doesn’t share that. He might be just paranoid, but the fact that he is flying two of his wives to a place where he can’t protect them is already a risk.

Granted, normal people live through that daily; danger is a part of life. But when humans talk about danger, most of it is manageable with reason and clear thinking. Dealing with a god is anything but simple.

Sylph isn’t just a random thug on the street that could be avoided by staying close to where people gather, and she isn’t a petty thief who hides in the shadows. She is a divine being with enough power to kill, brainwash, control, and bend the world to her will. She is the goddess of the elves, meaning the elves are to her what fire is to the fire goddess, a mere extension of her divine might.

This might be the calm before the storm, their last chance to relax before reaching the elvish heavens. What if Yggdrasil wanted to kill Plum? What if Sylph wanted to do something that would drain Cerilla’s life like what happened to the kings before her? What if Elis, the Dark Elves’ goddess, wanted to do something that could harm Jasmine or Grace?

Can Arad deal with two goddesses and the world tree at once? The answer was simple and clear: he can’t.

^Kali, what do you think?^

^Aunt Sylph would cause you problems, but nothing that could cause harm or warrant a fight. You don’t need to worry about her, Yggdrasil, or Elis. But, I’m sure this answer won’t sit with a dragon, so how about you try something?^

^Like what? I can’t fight them, and I’m sure that even with Gojo’s help, it’ll be hard.^

^It isn’t complicated. Sylph and Yggdrasil will know if you said something to Mathilde, so do this.^ She giggled.

Arad remained silent for a while, looking at the women walking all around the bath. He then suddenly shifted, his gaze turning toward Mathilde. She noticed him and smiled, “What? Humans and vampires aren’t enough for you?” She shook her chest, “Look, mine is nice.”

“If… Sylph causes trouble, then I’m making Cerilla the new goddess. You’ll be her angel. Same with the other two, Plum takes Yggdrasil’s place, and Jasmine takes Elis’s throne.^ She froze hearing his words, but he wasn’t done.

^And before you say anything. This takes effect from now. I’ll change my mind if the meeting went well.^

Mathilde could feel her divine magic shifting; she could sense Sylph’s grasp on the elvish portfolio growing weaker, and her divine magic allocation decreased by a bit.

No, her divine magic didn’t decrease; she was now receiving it through Cerilla. The divine magic is generated from the portfolio that Sylph has, it is then sent to Cerilla the warlock, and then gets sent to Mathilde through her.

Cerilla wasn’t that good at controlling divine magic to sense the change, because she was a warlock and not a paladin or a cleric. Mathilde knew that this wasn’t Arad’s idea; someone set him up, and she knows who, because she can already smell the stench of that woman.

“Mathilde, isn’t it lovely to see you again?” Diana was standing behind her with a large smile, “Kali sent me to watch over Arad, I’m sure you won’t mind.”

Usually, Mathilde could fight Diana and at least be confident that she could achieve a draw, but now, she’ll lose with Cerilla bottlenecking her divine magic.

Diana looked at Mathilde, quickly confirming that her divine magic had been severely obstructed. Whatever Kali did, she did it well. As expected of the goddess of destruction. But, Mathilde still had enough divine magic to cause trouble, only the speed at which she regenerated it was affected.

Mathilde still has enough power to take them to the top of the World Tree, so this shouldn’t affect anything important, as long as they don’t get on Kali’s bad side.

While Diana looked down at Mathilde with a smug face, Mathilde greeted her with a vile, angry glare. “Diana, how nice it is to see your ugly face again.”

Mathile’s eyes quickly noted that Diana had gotten stronger since they last met a few years ago. But that wasn’t what worried her; what bothered her was that Diana didn’t seem fully aware of the situation.

“For a Demon Goddess of destruction, Kali really knows how to be gentle with her angels. Unlike my sadistic goddess.” Mathilde sighed, and Diana’s eyes flashed.

“So it’s true. You know something that I don’t. And in this case, not knowing is a blessing, it seems.” Diana lowered herself into the water and sat beside Mathilde. “So? What is it? Is it really that bad?”

“It’s not bad, important. I can only tell you that it doesn’t concern the war efforts. Just politics among the gods.”

“Boring, are you saying Kali is trying to protect me from getting bored to death?” Diana laughed, but she understood well that the situation couldn’t be so simple. “But, that’s all. If she doesn’t want me to know, then I don’t want to know.”

Arad looked at them, “That’s it? Neither of you looked to be angry, and I thought you were rivals.”

“Rivals don’t mean enemies.” Mathilde sighed, “I hate her, but that doesn’t mean I can’t see reason. Besides, my mission calls for not causing trouble.” She looked at him with a smile.

^Like hell I would start a fight in the middle of a bath with the overgod and his wives. I’d rather take a one-sided beating by Diana than be the one to start the fight.^

Diana shrugged, “Me too. Kali warned me several times. She even said that I would rather suck Mathilde’s toes than fight her now if I knew what she knows.” She looked at her with a grin, “Looking at her, I think that is true.”

“Kali is right.” Mathide sighed, “Anything but starting a fight here.”

Arad sighed, and Kali’s voice rang in his head, ^See? Told you they can get along.^

^To me… They look more like two birds forced into the same cage.^ Arad could see that the two angels didn’t get along that well. It was like putting two cats together, or birds, or whatever. He can feel the stress rising each second, as if a bomb is about to explode between them.

How does he know? Well, Mathilde’s hand was slowly reaching to Diana’s neck from behind, and Diana’s elbow was getting ready into position to strike. They are calm, but each has their weapons pointed at the other.

^They are used to it. This isn’t the first time they were forced to work together. As Mathilde said, they are rivals, not enemies.^

“You two.” Merida spoke, “If you’re about to fight, then do it somewhere else.” She stood and approached them, “Or…” Her eyes shifted to Arad, “Have them wrestle just with their humanoid bodies, no divine magic or unhumane strength.”

The two angels looked at each other and frowned, “You want us to wrestle like this? Forget it.” Mathilde sighed, and Diana did the same, both of them finally pulling a bit apart. They weren’t aiming at each other’s throats anymore.

Arad didn’t know what Kali was planning, but he could trust she knew what she was doing. ^Won’t you come as well?^

^Sadly, I can’t. I’m currently overseeing the deployment of a massive demonic army to war. They need to see their goddess behind them to keep their morale up.^