The dragon's harem

Agnar’s body burned with divine magic, and it wasn’t just any divine magic, but a lycanthropic one that refracted from the demon lord Alaric’s demonic curse with Arad’s will. His body won’t endure it for more than a few seconds -three seconds to be exact- but that was enough. Fights at this scale never last that long anyway.

With a single leap forward, Agnar blasted like an arrow, moving faster than sound and with enough force to shatter the air around him with a single burst. His goal was simple: to win this fight before he ran out of steam.

Seeing that, Kageru could feel his blood rushing hot. In centuries, this was the first time he had witnessed such a thing. The demonic essence of a demon lord turning divine, and by that thing called the Emperor of Nothing. Does this mean that the Emperor of Nothing can turn devils back into angels as well? No wonder everyone here was shitting themselves just from his existence.

From what Kageru knew, someone had to have created the universe at the start, as it’s too absurd to believe it all to be just a coincidence. Devils are the descendants of angels who served as jailers in hell and were molded by it, so their origin is from the heavens. Asmodeus proves that as she is a Fallen Archon, being able to use both divine and cursed magic.

He believes demons have a similar origin, coming from something as divinely powerful as angels. And his guess couldn’t be more heretical than what any of the rotten devils could guess. What if the demons came from the abominations? The same monsters everyone fights?

That would mean the creator had created both angels and abominations at the start, and that they have eventually spawned devils and demons. This would also explain the burst of eldritch magic he sensed earlier when Agnar started chanting.

Is Agnar backed by the creator himself, or just someone else who has a similar power? The answer to that question didn’t matter to Kageru now, as he didn’t have any more time to think. If he doesn’t pull his all and put Agnar down, he’ll be the one cut down.

One second was divided into a hundred parts, and in just two parts, Agnar’s blade and Kageru’s claws had clashed, with both of their energies exploding outward like a flood, shaking the entire ninth layer of hell and sending all of the devils into a panic. Many could recognize Kageru’s cursed magic, but what horrified them was the divine magic facing him.

They could sense that the magic itself was young, having just recently been created, and they could even tell that the vessel wasn’t older than a couple of decades, which was the most horrifying part.

The clash itself was bestial and wild, taking the form of a direct physical exchange where Agnar swung his sword as fast and as hard as he could against Kageru, and where Kageru replied with the same aggression, resulting in them flying across the layer’s sky as they hacked and slashed at each other.

In terms of raw power, Kageru had far more than Agnar, as he had been alive for much longer. He also far surpassed him in combat experience and martial skill, but Agnar made up for the gap in power with the burning nature of the divine magic and his knowledge of Maharaja’s power and how to exploit it, allowing him to slightly even the playing field.

A tenth of a second had passed, and the two had already accumulated tens of horrifying wounds, but the unnatural healing they possessed was quickly healing those wounds, but not fast enough.

Agnar’s three-second time limit was now looking like an eternity, as at such speed and power, he could barely keep fighting for a tenth of a second, and unlike him, Kageru looked to be fine with his wounds, probably since he lived in hell for centuries.

He has to finish this fight right now. So he had to gamble. It was still unfinished, unrefined, and crude, but he could pull it off. Sacrificing the last two seconds of his timer, he could put that energy to good use.

The Moment Kageru saw the look on Agnar’s face change, he knew something massive was coming, so he immediately lifted his arms and got ready to counter.

[Elemental Expansion:...]

Agnar pointed his sword toward Kageru and lifted one hand, making a peace sign with his fingers.

[... Call of the Blade.]

Light swallowed the entire fight; stone emerged from the ground, large stone buildings rose up, banners flapped, and the red sky of hell turned blue as the clouds washed white and light flashed down from the blazing sun. Kageru found himself standing inside a colosseum with thousands of people cheering and chanting.

When he looked down at himself, he could see that he was wearing ragged clothes, was chained by heavy shackles, and yet still held all of his power. With a single move, he shattered the shackles and looked forward, laughing.

"An Elemental expansion? It even manipulates time. You bastard, where did you keep this hidden?!" On the other side of the arena, Agnar stood, wearing a suit of silver armor with a long, glowing longsword in his hand.

"It’s unfinished, unstable, and mostly unusable. They are the ones holding it together, not me." He pointed back at the VIP balcony where the royalty and nobles would usually sit to watch the fighting and executions, and what Kageru saw there almost made his fur fall off.

Arad was sitting on a massive black throne, glaring down at them with glowing purple eyes. Around him, all of his wives sat and watched as well, every one of them stronger than the one before. He could see Zephyr directly, but he was certain she was there with Aella(In her wine glass). He didn’t even notice Kali, who was sitting on Eris’s lap. But Arad and his wives weren’t the real horrors.

For some reason, Maharaja was taking a nap on the ceiling of the VIP quarters, and even Tiamat was sitting beside her and stuffing herself with food.

"I see... you’re a warlock down to the bones. Those aren’t the real deal, but just illusions in the shape of those who will grant you power. Even the spectators. Those are the people cheering for you to win." He laughed. "You’re the hero, and I’m the criminal you’re about to execute."

Agnar stared at him in silence for a moment. "You’re right, and that’s what I’m going to do."

As the bell rang, Kageru could immediately feel all of his power being drained until he was nearly mundane, and so was Agnar. He gasped, and Agnar was already upon him, swinging his sword down.

"You brat!" Kageru deflected the sword with his claws and hit back. "I see, you subtracted your power from mine to weaken us both to a level where the fight is manageable. Where did you even learn such a complicated elemental expansion?" He kicked Agnar back and laughed. "I want to see them. Who taught you?!"

It was Merlin who taught Agnar how elemental expansions work and helped him tune his, but thanks to that, his elemental expansion was already too complicated for him to easily control. Right now, when he activates it, the built-in effect takes hold, and he cannot modify, change, or control it.

The coming fight was mundane, with the two of them engaging in a few-minute-long battle, swinging at each other until they both fell to the ground. Kageru was bigger, stronger, and faster, but Agnar had been trained by Alcott until he couldn’t move, and that edge helped him keep up.

"Those moves... the slayer..." Kageru growled as he lay on the ground beside Agnar’s unconscious body. He was only able to maintain his consciousness due to his familiarity with pain and suffering, thanks to being a devil that was born and raised in hell. So, he pushed through the pain and sat up. "Kid... you matched me... but I’ll steal this win. Don’t hold it against me; I’m just more resilient than you."

He was about to stab Agnar with his claws and finish the fight, but then noticed something strange. If Agnar is unconscious, why isn’t his elemental expansion unraveling? He looked up, and his devilish eyes immediately noticed the glaring anomaly.

The throne was empty, and a huge shadow towered over him.

Kageru was already sweating and bleeding, and if his fur could, it would’ve turned gray from the sheer terror. ^Shit! Wasn’t he an illusion? How could he move? He is behind me...^

"What if I am an illusion? Who said that could override my will?" Arad asked as he stood behind Kageru, taking the form of a shadowy figure engulfed in flowing darkness.

^Did you just fucking read my mind?^

"Not just your mind, but your entire memories, body, and soul. They are all to me... like an open book, Kageru Karion, also known as Kaka of the Black Wolves." Arad’s voice was growing deeper and deeper by the second, and the bright blue sky started shifting to black as darkness swallowed the entire place.

"What are you? What do you want?" Kageru growled, and Arad was silent for a second.

"Nothing, and nothing. I do not need to take back what I gifted. But if I’m going to give you an order, then protect Agnar and his girls. Make sure they come back alive, and I’ll reward you when I wake up." Arad replied and Kageru gulped.

"When you wake up? Are you some sealed ancient god?"

"I’m asleep, growing, hibernating. My blood and nervous system are the first to evolve. I was always just as much of a mental existence as a physical one. That’s how I’m linking to this place."

^You’re an absolute monster... the fuck you mean by being able to invade someone’s else elemental expansion through mental magic? No, forget that. What if this brat kicks the bucket... I can’t guarantee anything when it comes to hell.^

"If Agnar dies, I’ll eat you and this entire layer. His companions are my daughters, so I’ll give you and all the devils in hell a fate worse than death, a fate that you can’t even imagine."

As darkness swallowed everything, Agnar and Kageru were spat back out onto the dirt of hell. Both of them were fully healed, and Kageru could only sit down and gasp for air as he could still hear Arad’s deep voice echoing in his mind.