The dragon's harem

Chapter 949: A Horrible Misunderstanding

The cultist woman, gasped staring up with a shocked face. She had never expected Lunaraʼs demon to look human, but what came couldnʼt be anything else. But now that she looked at him for a solid second, he was over two meters tall and as muscular as a bull, he couldnʼt be a human, this is a giant.

Aradʼs eyes looked around, spotting Jack and the murder paladins who were just making it out of the tunnel to assist him. It didnʼt take him a second to recognize that the cultists were attacking Jack and the rest, so he acted.

Aradʼs eyes flashed purple as a wave of gravity magic rushed out of his body, forcing all the cultists to kiss the ground. Even the werebear couldnʼt resist Aradʼs magic, his body felt several times heavier than normal, and the wound up his shoulder didnʼt help. He coughed blood, wanting to curse the giant demon that appeared, but still fearing Lunaraʼs retribution. Jack looked at Arad with a confused face. Arad was supposed to be several weeksʼ worth of travel time away, even if Arad flew here as fast as he could, itʼd take him a day to arrive and this one had walked out of the demonic gate.

”Arad? Is that you? How...” He looked at him, still worried that this might be a shapeshifting demon. It wasnʼt that uncommon for demons and devils to show up to mortals in human forms to trick or make them drop their guard.

”ARAD!” A sharp voice boomed from the still-burning gate and a long purple arm extended out, grabbing Arad by the shoulder. ”This is my gate! Why did you jump in?” Lunara walked out and growled at him.

The cultists couldnʼt recognize Lunaraʼs demonic magic as Aradʼs gravity magic had engulfed the whole place and muffled their senses, they could only sense him. To them, the one behind him was just another giant demon, this is only purple and has horns.

****

One minute earlier, Arad and Lunara were still sitting with Hati and the pale mother in the healing quarter when a small gate opened beside Lunaraʼs head, crackling with magic. This was a call for help from her cultists, they were pleading for her to send them a powerful demon to assist them in battle.

Lunara looked at the fist-sized gate, pulled it closer to her face, and looked closer at it. ”I must go back to the abyss. My followers ask me to send them a demon to help.” She stood and looked at Hati, ”Itʼs safe if I open a door to the abyss, right?” She didnʼt know if doing such a thing could trigger Kayden or the overgod, but Hati replied with a nod, ”You can do that.”

”Itʼs dangerous to return to the abyss now.” The pale night said, ”You might get killed by your generals who want to rob your power and throne.”

”Sheʼll be fine. But do it inside the training room, not here.” Hati waved her hand and opened a portal to her training ground. ”I donʼt want the abyssʼs miasma stinking up my house.”

As the two were talking, Arad looked at the gate with his void eyes, sensing something strange about it. It was faint, but he could see it, a familiar magic sparkling on the other side... bloody and fiendish, a devilish presence that always stuck close to one of his wives. There was no doubt about it, that was Pinʼs magic on the other side, which meant Eris might be there, facing Lunaraʼs followers. Blood rushed into his head and a vein bulged on his forehead.

Arad threw his hand forward and plunged his fist into the portal. Lunara gasped, but she was already too late, Aradʼs whole body got sucked into the gate in a fraction of a second. Usually teleporting someone as powerful and magic-dense as he was quite taxing, but if he is willing to be teleported, itʼs almost costless.

Shocked at Aradʼs act, Lunara jumped after him, ending in them both inside the cultistʼs lair.

****

”Ooo! Great demon...” The cultist woman between Aradʼs legs cried, ”Please kill those intruders who trespassed on our great ladyʼs altar.” She didnʼt even notice Lunara who had just walked out of the gate behind Arad as she was knocked down with gravity magic and Aradʼs legs were too thick for her to see behind them.

Arad lifted his fist, the veins on his arm bulging as he swung his palm up. The whole cavern shook and cracked. Jack and the paladins got thrown to the ground as the walls shattered and the ceiling levitated. Everyone watched in horror as sunlight pierced through the shattered walls. Arad had split the whole cavern in half and lifted the upper part to the sky, exposing the inner layer to the outside world.

He wanted a direct line of sight to everyone in the cave, all of them, including the paladins waiting outside, the dead ones in the other caverns, and even the sneaky cultists hiding in ambush inside the walls. He had already sensed all of them so he wanted everyone to be visible, within punching range.

”Jack, whatʼs going on here?” Arad walked past the cultist woman, as his foot landed one inch beside her face, she could see it pushing through the hard stone, leaving a footprint. Terrified that she had almost got her head crushed like an apple, she got a sudden urge to empty her stomach from stress.

”How do I know youʼre Arad?” Jack growled. He had no reason to think this was the real Arad seeing that he just come out of a demonic summoning gate. Sadly Jack wasnʼt as talented with magic as everyone else and couldnʼt use it to identify people, he needed something clear. Getting tricked by a demon here would mean death.

”Itʼs Arad...” Pin said with a grin on her face, ”I can sense it, my ladyʼs blood in him.” She jumped from Jackʼs shoulder onto Aradʼs shoulder with a happy giggle. ”Milord, itʼs been a while.” The moment Pin recognized Arad and jumped to him, the paladins smiled, smelling their victory cooking on the horizon. This is their goddessʼs husband, they couldnʼt ask for better support.

Jack sighed, ”So itʼs you...not some shapeshifting demon...” He approached Arad with a tired face, ”How did you end up coming out of a demonic gate?” The last time he saw Arad he was sure Arad wasnʼt a demon.

”I was in the beast kingdom with this demon called Lunara and I then sensed Pinʼs magic when the gate appeared in front of her. So, I jumped in...” Arad looked back, pointing at Lunara with his thumb, ”That one over there.”

Pin looked behind Arad at the side of the portal, and so did everyone, finally noticing Lunaraʼs presence and magic. Pinʼs smile disappeared in a second as she gasped, ”Heh!” Dreadful, sharp, burning, and evil, the ancient demonic magic of a demon that had lived for centuries, she was a demon lord, and everyone felt it.

Everyone started sweating as they slowly realized who was the monster standing behind Arad, they were in the presence of the demon lord of severing. Jack slowly lifted his artificial limb, ready to fire as the cultists smiled in terror and happiness, their demonic lady had graced them with her presence.

Both the paladins and cultists started cracking into faint smiles, glaring at each other. Each side thought they were winning. The cultistʼs confidence as their demon lord appeared was unmatched, and the paladins were the same.

Arad slowly turned back toward Jack and the paladins, ”Now, whatʼs going on?” He still didnʼt get an answer to his question, and everyone tensed up. The only one who realized something was off was Jack, he knew how powerful Arad was and that you canʼt underestimate a demon lord. If Arad and Lunara were to fight here, Croc City and everyone in a thousand kilometers

are fucked.

Lunara started sweating in the back, she knew what was this about. Since she tried to see who Aradʼs wives were, she triggered Lydiaʼs senses and ended up causing this whole mess. If her standing with Arad was bad earlier, itʼs about to get even worse when he knows itʼs all her

fault.

While everyone there thought Lunara was the most dangerous being present, only she knew that it was Arad that they should be afraid of. Their previous fight ended in a draw, but now sheʼs certain heʼll kill her.

Before anyone could speak, Lunara was the one to speak first.

”Sorry, this is my fault.” Itʼs better if she was the one speaking instead of anyone else ratting

her out.

Aradʼs neck twisted as if he had no neckbones, he turned toward her with a burning purple

glare. ”Your fault? What did you do.” She could sense that he was indeed angry, far more than before when she threatened his wives since blood had been spilled this time, but he wasnʼt attacking immediately which was a good sign. Yet, she couldnʼt relax, he was one word away from shoving his fist down her throat and pulling her heart out.

But, even with that good sign that Arad was willing to listen if she was the one speaking directly, she still felt like a stone was stuck down her throat. ”Remember when you told me about your wives? I then tried to see who they were so I used small cuts as mediums to check who they were, so I can identify them from the common rabble.” Pinching her fingers together, she couldnʼt look at him in the face.

”Cuts?” Arad took a step toward her and she gasped, feeling her stomach turn. She jumped a step back, waving her hands, ”No! It wasnʼt a cut that I caused, I use cuts that already

occurred.”

Arad stopped moving, and she felt a bit relieved, yet she couldnʼt relax just yet. One wrong word and not just her head would roll, but probably all of her cultists would end up

evaporating.

”When I identified Eris...a paladin that with her noticed my demonic presence and identified

me... I suspect they are here to attack my cult for that.” She looked at the cultists with a

troubled face, her actions had led them to face several deaths without them even knowing why. If they made it all alive from here today, sheʼll give those who died a high rank among

her demons.

Pin was the one to speak after that, ”Demon lords use their cults as beacons to spread their

influence. When Lunaraʼs demonic magic appears on my lady Eris, the easiest and quickest route to make sure the demon lord doesnʼt reach her is to destroy all the nearby cults. Thatʼs why are we here to destroy this cult, murder every one of them so Lunara canʼt track my lady.” Arad halted his gravity magic and released everyone, he only kept the ceiling floating in the sky. He was smart enough to guess this was probably a misunderstanding, but his aim was someone else.

As the magic lifted, the wearbear who had regenerated thanks to his cursed blood lunged up, swinging his claw at Aradʼs neck. ”You arenʼt one of my ladyʼs demons! Die, monster!”