The dragon's harem

Leaving Therisa for her training, Arad headed back to the abyss as Kali herself returned to where he was training with the archons. She had inspected his nymph’s body and power, and found that while he had the potential to become as big a monster as Amaterasu, he was still far away from that. AO himself can fully utilize that body, while Arad still can’t and would need centuries to marinate and sink deeper into the nymph’s power.

It wasn’t something that could be trained or forced, and only time, experience, and getting used to that body would allow him to approach its peak potential.

Back at the training ground, Arad had finished learning how to counter divine magic by taking control of it and was even now trying to learn the trickery of another archon. In total, Kali had prepared three archons for Arad to learn from. The archon of vibration Gabriella, taught him how to amplify his attack power. The archon of benediction taught him how to take control of divine magic, and the last was the archon of doubt, who had taught him how to sow the seeds of doubt into the mind of his opponent and make them waver.

It was absolutely terrifying how fast he learned, and even if he didn’t have mastery yet, the fact that he could learn in a single day from three different archons was enough to terrify the three divine messengers to the bones.

With his training for the day complete, Arad had more time to talk with Kali and learn about what happened to her in the war, which was as simple as he expected. She didn’t get to fight, not even once. Her archons and angels tore through the abominations like cavalry through civilians, and the entire battle ended in a flash.

Kali had spent most of her time leading the angels to chase and hunt the running abominations. But she made it clear that this isn’t the case all the time, and that it was only her battalion that could do such a thing. Destruction was the strongest when it comes to damage, and that’s why they could easily tear the abominations’ forts and defences.

She herself would’ve only got a chance to fight if an Avatar of Nyar showed up, which didn’t happen. She didn’t tell Arad, but that was because of AO. When Arad was knocked out, and AO took over his body, he went outside the universe and violently tore all of the abominations, including the avatar that was supposed to clash with Kali.

So, in a sense, Arad himself helped Kali finish her work early and get back home. She was glad for that part at least, even though this case of AO coming out was just a major cause of stress for her. She has to stay close to him, and make sure such a thing never happens again.

While they were talking, another important thing was taking place inside one of the countless training grounds that Merlin had made inside her labyrinth. Camilla was about to start her training with Alcott, whom she had asked for after seeing how he dealt with Poppy’s monsters.

She stood, clad in her fullplate armor, and looked at him. Alcott casually sat on a rock and yawned, looking around at the battlefield with a tired face. “Was it a bad time?”

Alcott stood, smiled, and cracked his neck. “Not at all, in fact, it was a good thing you called. Saved from getting drained.” He approached and then looked at her. “You asked that I teach you how to handle a sword.”

She nodded and he sighed. “Well, let’s skip the basic training and moves, those are easy enough to learn with repetition. I’ll instead teach you a few key things about swordsmanship that no one would tell you about.”

He lifted his hand and tapped his forearm. “First, cutting angle. Usually, you would always aim for a right angle to cut right through.”

“I know that. If the edge alignment is bad, the blade can get deflected, twist in your hand, break, or even not cut at all.” She nodded and remembered how she broke several swords in the past.

“Yep, but half of that is bullshit.” Alcott scratched the back of his head, “You don’t align your sword edge with the target, but with the target’s bones. For example, if you tried to cut my knee near the joint, the bone isn’t straight, and you have to tilt your blade. That’s why to be able to effectively cut, you need to understand the bones of whatever you’re cutting first.”

“The bones…” She tilted her head in confusion, and Alcott looked at the sky. “Merlin, give us a dragon skeleton and a human skeleton I’m sure I’ve got those things somewhere.”

A moment later, a massive draconic skeleton spawned beside them, and was followed by a human skeleton. “Here you go, look at the bones, and try to memorize them. They are the hardest thing in the body, so those are what you base your cutting on.”

“I have to memorize them all?” She came here to swing her sword, but he gave her a task that would require her mind to work, which quickly killed all of her excitement.

“Of course, stabs are overpowered as well, so knowing where the bones are to aim between them is vital.” He stabbed his sword between the human skeleton’s ribs, “Look, from here, I can pierce both the heart and lungs without any resistance.”

“What if they are wearing armor?” she asked, and Alcott shrugged, “Well, you aim at the gaps. I know that armors are made specifically to avoid that and make targeting the gaps harder, so it’s better to inspect and clearly see the opponent’s armor before the fight starts.”

He threw a glance at her, “I only need a second to look at your armor and find potential weak points. For your armor now, it’s quite tight around your chest, which is straining your breathing a bit, so I’ll dent that with a mace to make it even harder for you. Then I’ll just make you exhaust yourself so I can easily kill you.” He smiled, “Of course, I won’t even need a mace. I can just give you a solid kick to the chest, and that would work.”

“So, I have to observe the hard parts of the opponent’s body and work around them. Even if I carried a sword, that isn’t my only weapon. I can still kick and punch as I need to.” She looked at her armor, and decided to get it modified later.

“What do you think is the true goal of a fight?” He asked, and she looked at him with a confused face.

“To win? Survive?”

He laughed, “No, most of the time, it is to kill. And when the goal isn’t killing, it is to control the opponent’s life. There is no one weapon, fighting style, or method. If you’re fighting someone with a sword, and you find a musket, shoot him and be done with it. Throw sand, tackle, trick, and do all that you can to kill your opponent, or take control of their lives.”

Alcott reached into his magic pocket and produced an entire siege cannon. “If I faced someone I can’t cut, they’ll get this to the guts.” He smiled. “I’m not a swordsman, I’m a weapon master, a fighter.”

Unlike other fighters who mastered one weapon and reached the peak, Alcott mastered any and all weapons that he found in his path, and in a fight, he would press the advantage of his entire arsenal of magic weapons, items, and trinkets to secure a victory.