The dragon's harem

Chapter 959: The Black Goat of The Abyss, Shub

Arad sat on his chair, barely fitting in as he crammed his legs beneath the tiny table. ”Bad news? Like what? He leaned back and looked at her with a passive face.

The pale night looked back at him, blinking as she flicked her pale fingers and a cup of strange tea appeared before her, one immediately spawned before Arad. She took a sip with closed eyes and sighed. ”First, the good news is that Lunara is stable. Sheʼll survive, but probably wonʼt move for a week. Have a drink.” She pointed at his cup.

The strange glowing blue and green liquid bubbled like something out of a witchʼs cursed pot. Even Arad who ate many things gave it one look and noped out, that thing looked vile.

”Good news can wait.” Arad leaned forward, ”Bad news usually means trouble, and troubles are urgent things that need to be dealt with. Tell me about what went wrong.” Arad would rather hear the bad news so he can start thinking about a solution. Good news usually isnʼt urgent and doesnʼt need him to act.

On top of everything, good news isnʼt a good excuse he can give to Mira for making her wait. ”You canʼt fix this one. Itʼs not in your hand, not mine, itʼs not in anyoneʼs hand.” The pale night looked around, her eyes scanning the area around them. From burned ground to the flowing rivers of lava and rotten forests of this layer, everything looked to be in quite a bad condition ”I was born long before the abyss even existed, in the early days of AO. The previous overgod.”

She smiled, remembering those days before time, before space, and before everything was anything, before reality itself when AO was everything and anything. Ah, those sweet simple times before the causality of reality.

”Youʼre old.” Arad commented, looking at her pale face. ”For all I know, the abyss is a world that existed for a very, very long time.” That wasnʼt just thousands or hundreds of thousands, but billions of years in the past. She might be as old as the world itself.

”To tell you the truth, Iʼm the first demon to ever be born. People call me the pale night thanks to my look, or the mother of demons since I gave birth to them.” She pushed her chair back and sighed, ”But Iʼm a demon like them, and one of a kind.” She lifted her foot, and gently tapped it on the ground.

Lines of concentrated magic sparked across the whole layer like electronic circuits. ”You might have guessed that Iʼm not normal.” Her presence surged across the abyssʼs walls and earth, shifting its nature back and forth, akin to being inside Aradʼs expansion.

Arad looked at her, his eyes burning purple. ”Right... I canʼt tell whether youʼre a demon or not, I canʼt sense the end of your power, and when I look at your eyes, I only see a massive shadow. Darkness, a deep bottomless hole of horrors.” Behind the pale night, he could see the illusion of a titanic mass of tentacles and goat legs, all writhing in blood and gore, dwarfing the abyss in size.

Whatever she was, the pale night that demons knew was nothing more than a facade, hiding an eldritch demon of nightmarish proportions and power.

Arad looked at his shaking knees, ”Youʼre the strongest being Iʼve faced so far, I doubt even Kayden can take you down. Unless heʼs hiding his power well enough that I canʼt sense it.”

The pale night giggled, ”Heʼs indeed hiding it, but that kid canʼt kill me. I doubt even the overgod had the power to take me down.” She leaned on the table, looking at Arad with a smile, ”My name is Shub, a primordial abomination that was born from AOʼs essence. Iʼm the one who gave birth to the abyss itself. Even as we speak now, my womb still gives birth to new layers.”

”Why tell me this?” Arad glared at her. ”Does it have anything with me?” Why is a monster above the gods hiding in the abyss, and why is she speaking with him about it now? Aradʼs suspensions started to swell up, but for some reason, he didnʼt feel threatened by her power. ”Remember that man in yellow? The abomination called Nyar, the one who helped Vorvadoss escape?” She leaned back, ”I was his wife before time even existed. We got divorced when he betrayed our creator AO. But I can still feel him, heʼs awakening faster than expected.”

She sighed, scratching her head. ”Heʼs targeting you this time. I canʼt explain why yet, but you should accelerate your training, he might be awake in a century or so.” She growled with a sore face, ”Heʼs called the yellow emperor, the betrayer and evil one. You better find a place to cultivate and turn into a shelter for your wives to hide in in case of an attack.”

If Nyar wanted to target Arad, his wives are a glaring weakness that is bound to be the primary target.

Veins bulged on Aradʼs head, ”Heʼll attack them?” So this is the bad news, Aradʼs blood boiled, and his magic spiked for a moment. His wives indeed werenʼt as strong as him, but that wasnʼt their fault. Heʼs well aware that heʼs an outlier and that asking his wives to keep up with him is an impossible task. Itʼs his duty as their husband to provide protection, and so The must get even stronger.

”Nothing is beyond Nyarʼs vile soul. Expect anything from him.” She looked up, even my ex- wife Yog despises him.”

”Wife?” Arad lifted an eyebrow. She had just said that she was Nyarʼs ex-wife...but she has an ex-wife?

”This is a tale from before humans or marriage even existed, not even time was born at that time. Iʼm just using words close enough to what the relationships were at that time.” She waved her hand, ”And to tell you, Yog is sick up in the head. Sheʼs one crazy monster.” She leaned back, ”Iʼm the black goat of the abyss, sheʼs called the guardian of the gate and master of the forbidden knowledge.”

”I donʼt want to know about you or her. The bad news is that Nyar is targeting me, right?” Arad glared at her, ”What should I do? If not even you can beat him, then I doubt I stand a chance.” He looked back, ”The weakest of those demons has a better chance of defeating me than I have of defeating you, let alone that yellow bastard.”

When comparing himself to what he sensed from Shub, the power difference was just too overwhelming. Arad is powerful, but he isnʼt stupid and wonʼt try to fight a fight that he knows wonʼt win.

”A century is both short and long, blink once and itʼll be over, focus on something and itʼll feel like an eternity.” She leaned back and rested her feet on the table, looking at the ceiling with a distant look on her face. ”Those two layers that you wrecked...they are looking for new lords. You might have guessed it, but the abyss is alive. Itʼs one massive demon, my first child that Iʼm still giving birth to.”

The abyss is a massive plane of existence, a bottomless hole that keeps expanding deeper and deeper, filling with demons on each of its endless layers. The deeper you go, the stronger the demons and the harsher the layers get.

”Kayden said heʼll replace those two demon lords I killed.” Arad replied with a stern face, pushing her feet out of the table. ”Sit normally.”

”Iʼve spoken with him. You can have those two layers. Terraform them however you like, and feel free to use all the demons living here however you see fit.” She put her feet back on the table, this was her domain and sheʼll do whatever she wanted.

”Only demons are supposed to rule layers of the abyss. Iʼm not going to let you turn me into a demon.” Arad has his hands full with his vampirism and lycanthropy, becoming a demon sounds like extra trouble. Having land in the abyss was one thing, and being a layer lord was

another thing.

Shub giggled, ”Assign a demon as your representative and have them help you. Iʼm not going to turn you into a demon, not in a million years.” She giggled, imagining how ridiculous that

would be.

”Canʼt turn me into a demon? Let me guess, another thing you canʼt explain to me?” He glared at her, there are a lot of things that people refuse to clearly explain to him, especially those powerful ones who seem to have a lot of secrets to hide.

”No, this one I can explain clearly. I can turn you into a demon if I want, Iʼm just choosing not to do it.” She took her feet off the table and stared at him. ”If I did, youʼll be one of my

children.”

”Have a problem with being my mother?” Arad smiled with a grin, heʼs not a troublesome child...but now that he thought of it, heʼs indeed a troublemaker with all his fighting.

”No, If I became your mother, I canʼt call you daddy anymore.” She replied with a passive face. Shub disappeared as if she was never there, leaving Arad sitting alone in the middle of

the abyss, baffled.

After pushing everything to the back of his head, Arad stood and he could feel the two layers surging with energy from beneath his feet. They felt the same as his connection to the vampires through blood but in reverse, they were a secondary tank of energy that he could draw from. His magic traveled and synced with the bones and marrow of the abyss, extending his magic detection and reach across the two layers.

Now his void step could take him to any spot he wants in those two layers, and he could even sense and cast magic anywhere he wants. It felt strange, so he tried it immediately. With one step, he stood in front of the demon woman who got him a tour of Sawlessʼs lab.

The moment her eyes laid on him, she knew it, the abyss had chosen him, he who wasnʼt a demon was now their lord, their non-demonic demon lord.

She immediately knelt down, ”My lord, welcome back to your domain.” She was sweating, it never happened in her life, she had never seen the change of a demon lord, let alone such a special case where a dragon took the title.

”This layer and the one above are mine now. Make sure to focus on defenses first and call me

if anything happens. Come here for a second.” Arad extended his hand above her, and she could feel a curse rushing through her veins. She had become linked to him by Domaʼs magic, if she died or were harmed, Arad would know immediately.

”Keep the place tidy for me. Iʼll come back in a few days.” Arad disappeared as quickly as he appeared and she stood there, baffled. She could feel it, waves of endless demonic magic rushing through her veins. Arad had allowed her to be his temporary replacement on the two layers so the abyss itself is fuelling her now as if she was a true demon lord.

The captain of the guards rushed through the hallways, seeing her standing alone and looking at her hands. ”You there! Whatʼs going on? A new demonic aura was detected, hurry back to your...” He paused, rubbing his eyes, they were lying to him.

All demons could tell that she wasnʼt a true demon lord, but an extension of one. She is the representative of their lord, a demon hand.

She glared at him, and her captain started shaking, ”Wait...this canʼt be...” He cried, taking a few steps back. In just a few minutes, one of his lowest-ranked soldiers, the one who was given the simple job of standing guard before a door that would never get attacked had now become a demon hand.

She turned and walked toward him. He flinched, fearing that she was about to cleave him in

half. ”Weʼve got no time to fight among ourselves. Focus a quarter of our demonpower on repairs and the other three quarters on defense. We might get attacked in such a weakened condition.” She said and he nodded, walking behind her with a lowered head. She had become

his superior in seconds.

”That black dragon Arad is now our demon lord. He killed both Alaric and Sawless, the abyss itself chose him as the lord of this layer and the one above us.” She looked back at the captain, ”Heʼs far stronger than many other demon lords. Show him enough respect.”