The dragon's harem

Chapter 907: A Recoil of Magic

Even with their power enchanted and Arad weakened, Astrid and Frida still failed to effectively massage him. Their arms gave up after just a few seconds of work, it was as hard as trying to massage a tough piece of hard rubber. Even with how low Miraʼs healing magic output is now that sheʼs trying to condense it into her hands, the twins still failed to keep up. ”Arenʼt you two supposed to be some powerful Fenrirs? How come that you canʼt even massage him in this situation?” Merlin looked at them with a smug smile on her face.

”Heʼs the problem!” Astrid cried. She was right, they were powerful, far more than anyone in that room expected, but Arad was just on a whole another level. Tough muscles, hard bones, and rigid scales, even his magic was dense enough to kill someone just by standing close. Merlin waved her fingers and conjured two massive steel beams almost two meters above Aradʼs back. ”Get up, push down with your legs. You must move that holy magic before it starts clogging his magic circles.” Even if Arad can still be healed with holy magic, heʼs a vampire, if that holy magic isnʼt managed properly, it could cause more damage than it heals. Astrid and Frida jumped above Arad and started pushing on his back with their knees and feet, but even so, they kept having to take breaks. And as they worked, Merlin kept testing her spells on Arad, checking what worked and what didnʼt.

She asked Arad and he didnʼt have a problem. She tested all of her spells and effects, confirming several things that were surprising about Arad.

What Merlin tested first was if her seduction could work, and that had resulted in more aggression. Since Arad is a dragon, fighting for mates is natural and if she tried to seduce him, that would only end up in her getting beaten even harder.

Arad can be mind-controlled as proven by Vars in the past, but itʼs gotten significantly harder than last time. Merlin had tried to mind-control Arad, but she suddenly found herself dancing naked in the middle of the room, Doma had cursed her to dance for 5 minutes or until she begged her. Trying to control Arad is a risky thing, especially with Doma there.

Merlin tried to rob Arad of his draconic powers as it had happened before in her labyrinth, but due to the massive size of his current power, she ended up receiving a backlash. It was like trying to fit something massive in a small space, her body almost split in half. It was nearly impossible to achieve without a massive labyrinth to spread his magic.

After half an hour with Astrid and Frida standing on Aradʼs back and massaging him, they finally stopped and sat down to rest for a bit. Isdis brought them cold wine and some of the black blood wine that Arad had bought.

”Iʼm exhausted!” Merlin sighed, sitting on the ground, ”I canʼt find any reliable spell to win, I would lean toward using holy magic, but youʼre getting used to that, right?”

Arad sat up, ”I can counter holy magic with curses. But what about you? I didnʼt know you could use holy magic.”

”Not just me, all wizards have access to holy magic. The goddess of magic exists.” Merlin closed her eyes and sat with her legs crossed, she almost immediately started floating up with her staff orbiting her. ”But, sheʼs quite the fickle one and messes with us when we ask for holy magic.” She pointed her hand toward Arad, [Heal]

Merlinʼs hand flickered with light and the spell activated, it wasnʼt practically strong, but it seemed to have worked on Arad.

Merlin blinked twice, ”Strange, nothing bad happened. I usually get jolted or something like that.” The goddess of magic was known for messing with wizards every time they called upon her power.

”Yeah...” Arad looked at her with a tired face, ”Nothing happened...” He seemed a bit disappointed.

{You arenʼt going to tell her about that?} Doma said inside his head, barely holding her laughter. ^No, Iʼll pretend that Iʼve never seen that.^ Some of Merlinʼs private memories seem to have been shared with Arad, memories that Merlin probably would never admit.

The goddess of magic growled on her desk, unamused as her prank had failed. She honestly expected a better reaction, at least better than nothing at all. Her body started floating as she waved her fingers, flashes of magic sparked from her eyes and long red hair. She was determined to make sure it worked.

Arad suddenly felt his head stink, his mana reserve had dropped to o out of nowhere and Doma started rolling inside his mind, feeling as if her head was spinning inside a barrel rolling down a massive hill.

Merlin froze in place, seeing Arad watching her memory. The goddess of magic did then showed her how he refused to react to what he saw. Her face turned bright red, and she almost flew out of the room screaming.

The other girls stared at Arad and Merlin, wondering what happened to them. They both looked shocked and stressed for no reason. ”Whatʼs up? Are you two, okay?” Mira asked, thinking that one of Merlinʼs spells mightʼve failed somehow, she wasnʼt wrong.

”This is...” Arad growled, ”That goddess...Itʼs an awful feeling.” Itʼs been a while since his mana had dropped to o, Luckily he wonʼt pass out like other people since the moment it reached o, he absorbed some mana from the air to make it a 1.

Merlin held her face, ”Iʼm...really...really sorry about that... both...”

”I donʼt care...really...” He shook his head, ”Just, donʼt use her holy magic. I now understand why mages avoid her.”

Arad had seen parts of Merlinʼs memories, a sensitive one involving her, and a statue of him not being in a ʼPresentableʼ situation. Arad had thought she got rid of all the statues of him that she made, but she seemed to have kept some for personal use.

As they were talking, a knocking came on the door. Merlin stood and approached, ”Who is there?” She asked.

”Itʼs me, Roberta. Iʼve finished all of the papers. I wanted to discuss them quickly with Isdis to make sure everything is right.” Roberta replied with a worried face. She was told by one of Hatiʼs daughters that they were busy inside, but her work must be done before tomorrow.

With a single wave of her fingers, Merlin opened the door and let Roberta inside without a second hesitation. She wanted something to change the topic and get her mind off what just happened.

Roberta walked inside, ”Lady Isdis, Iʼve....” She froze, seeing Arad sitting naked on the ground. She dropped the pile of papers in her hand and screamed, ”Why is he naked?”

”Why you ask?” Arad looked at her, ”They were massaging me, thatʼs the whole thing of this.”

”Who opened the door? It was you, Merlin, this room is protected by your magic.” Roberta glared at her.

”Yeah, but Arad doesnʼt mind.” Merlin looked at Arad, ”Do you mind her seeing you naked?”

”I donʼt mind. But they might.” He looked at Mira and Isdis, ”Do you mind it?” ”Well...” Mira scratched her chin, ”Roberta had gotten too close to us already, and sheʼs helping us finance the whole castle building and stuff...canʼt really tell her off even if I mind it

a bit.”

”Same for me. The whole kingdomʼs money relies on her. I would love to keep her close if possible.” Isdis looked at Arad, ”Marry her as well. Sheʼll be useful.”

As Roberta looked at them with a stunned face, Arad sighed. ”Is it all about money?”

”No.” Mira replied, ”Money isnʼt everything, but as Mother says, money is 90% of everything. Thatʼs pretty much important.”

”And whatʼs that 10%?” Arad looked at her and then at the still-frozen Roberta.

”Thatʼs between her and you. Weʼre your wives, we can agree with someone becoming an additional wife, or refuse them. But we donʼt get to choose who joins or not, we can only make suggestions.” Mira smiled.

Isdis giggled, ”Yeah, Iʼm not going to manage all of your hoards and how to spend every copper to make your domain better. You either hire someone trustworthy and reliable or

marry them.” Isdis looked at Roberta with a grin.

”What are you talking about!” Roberta rushed at her and grabbed her by the shirt, shaking her

in place. ”What are you talking about?!”

Isdis couldnʼt stop laughing, ”I get it! I get it!” She tapped Robertaʼs shoulder, ”Iʼll find a smother way, calm down. Let me see what papers you brought.”

As the two argued, Arad stood and laid back on the table so Frida and Astrid could start the treatment again. Merlin sat silently for a while before reluctantly returning to her experiments, while sheʼs powerful, she hasnʼt fought Arad seriously before and would love to be able to provide him with at least some resistance.

****

Far away, in a long-forgotten land, a vampire lord approached a noble with a smile on his face. ”How is she doing? Iʼm certain an immortal like her would be quite the fun toy.” The noble grunted, ”This is no fun. Itʼs a necessary evil, and you spawn as much of a filth as you are.” He looked back at the carriage filled with tools that rode past them. ”We have to test those new methods on something before applying them in the field. Otherwise, we wonʼt know if the torture would work or not.” The noble pulled a bag of gold, ”Here you go. Scram!” He threw it at the vampire lord, the man caught it and disappeared. He had sold the noble one of his spawns.

Deep beneath the nobleʼs castle, inside one of the dungeon cells guarded under the heaviest security, the woman was chained, having lost everything, she had nothing else to fear now. ”I...plead...to...” She mumbled and the guards looked back, feeling a shiver down their spines, ”The blood of origin, to they I sacrifice my blood, and seek others blood to be spilled. In a rusted iron spike, I shall die, impaled...” Blood magic started gushing from her body as she performed a forbidden ritual.

”I call thee!” A spark of blood magic rushed, seeking Vlad.