The dragon's harem

As Arad called, the two demons looked into the shadows and only saw the old lady floating alone. To their eyes, Amaterasu was invisible, never there. But since the two demons lived here for a long time, they knew the old lady well and were certain she couldn’t fly like that even if she wanted to.

“What are you talking about?” Ibaraki growled, and Arad pointed at Amaterasu. “Hold up, they can’t see you! Can they!”

Amaterasu giggled, and then whispered. “Black Dwarf, illuminate.” From the darkness, her body emerged back as the brightness in a game got raised.

“After a sun dies, turn into a white glowing orb of iron called a white dwarf, it eventually cools off and stops emitting light. That is what is called a black dwarf star, and I can use something similar to blend into the darkness.”

As she walked out of the shadows, she let the old lady stand on her own, looked toward Arad with a smile, and then threw a glance at the two demons, who were now far away and hiding in the shadows of the cave’s cracks.

“Ibaraki, Shuten, do not worry, I didn’t come here today to punish or berate you.” She smiled, “It’s not like you did anything bad in the past months, did you?”

“The two demons jumped out of the shadow and shook their head, “NO! We didn’t do anything, ask her!” Shuten cried and Ibaraki nodded.

“Forget about that.” Arad walked between them. “What are those demons doing here? You aren’t exactly keeping something a secret if you put two demon lords as guards around it. They aren’t here to protect the portfolio; they are here for something else.”

Amaterasu nodded. “You’re smart, but also half-wrong. They were here to protect it at first, because those who know about its existence, especially the divines, powerful devils, demons, and even abominations can still track its signal.”

She pointed at the two demons. “Of course, I didn’t expect those two to be able to defend the portfolio against abominations, so they are here merely to slow them down until I arrive.” She then lifted a finger, “The second reason is keeping Susanoo’s power in check by periodically feeding on it. They are the portfolio’s guards and jailers.”

Arad looked at the depth of the mountain, then frowned. “A mountain, a sealed power, and it is related to a really powerful god. Why am I feeling like this is the same as the overgod’s dead heart?”

“You aren’t wrong. What’s sealed at the depth of this mountain is the heart of the storm. Susanoo’s entire reserve of divine energy, a never-ending storm, a raging typhoon of global scale. Even after his death, that power never faded away.” Amaterasu shrugged. “Just like him, a force of nature and chaos, and he never listened to reason.”

She looked up, thinking. “Yeah, I killed him thousands of years in the past, so she wasn’t even born yet, so comparing them never occurred to me. But Susanoo might’ve been just as powerful as Zephyr is now, just far nastier.”

Arad paled slightly, “A Zephyr-level threat?”

“He was honestly more than that. He slew the eight forked serpent after all, that was a fragment of the world serpent.” She looked at the two demons. “Once upon a time, Susanoo, my unruly little brother, walked the mortal land, looking for his own amusement. He only cared about food, women, and getting drunk. Then, he met a beautiful young lady whom he managed to get drunk and have his way with. But, before he could leave, she attacked and tried to kill him.”

“Deserved.” Arad nodded, “But I won’t call it wise, attacking a divine god. If she knew who he was, I would say she was suicidal.”

Amaterasu smiled. “Well, she was. She saw my brother, liked him, and wanted to be taken and killed by him instead of facing her fate, to be fed to the eight forked serpent like her other seven sisters.” She flicked her fingers and pulled a hair comb. “Little brother could sense what she wanted, and he took offence, not at her, but at the serpent.”

“So, he went and killed it?” Arad lifted an eyebrow, and Amaterasu shook her head. “No, he came to me and asked if I could kill it. But I refused, I said that the serpent was bound to the mortal world and is in the process of evolving, which he needed to consume certain people. Trying to kill it in the mortal world would lead to a disaster and the death of many.”

Amaterasu clenched a fist. “I merely told him that the lives of eight innocent girls are worth less than the lives of a couple of million innocent people. But he didn’t listen, he went and stormed the serpent’s lair. The two fought, causing the deaths of thousands and thousands of innocent lives as they clashed. This land had been shattered from the bigger continent west due to their fight.”

She didn’t look happy at all. “In the end, little brother realized that the serpent was immortal, undying, and able to survive and resist all kinds of powers, which made killing him in the mortal world impossible. In the end, he found out that the only way to kill the serpent was to use the life of that woman he tried to save.”

She clapped her hands, then waved them around like a snake. “Little brother grabbed the woman, whom he had turned into a hair comb, killed her, and shoved her corpse into the serpent’s throat, forcing it to evolve, and then killed it in the heavens.”

Arad scratched the back of his head. “He should’ve listened… But I doubt he could’ve let the girl die.”

“I know.” Amaterasu shrugged. “That what started Susanoo’s downfall, and he got even more unhinged and unruly after that incident, until he started threating the lives of people, which forced me to kill him.”

She smiled. “It was a real chore, killing him without damaging the surrounding area too much. What made it worse is that he got the power of the eight forked serpent and many other monsters.” She looked at Arad with a grin. “It seems that those eight girls the serpent had to eat all carried a different power.”

She started counting. “Rapid health regeneration, rapid mana recovery, and rapid stamina recovery, supreme sword skill, blessed with divine magic, cursed by hell, touched by Yog, unchained by time, freed from space, and lastly, the power of the last girl was that of Entropy, a blessing of chaos and harmony just like that girl Lucy has.”

She smiled, “If you faced Susanoo’s remnant effigy, I bet you’ll have to deal with the eight forked serpent as well.”