The dragon's harem

Chapter 1669: Tactical Retreat

“Flaunt and Flourish… Yuwaku Kyomu!”

A blinding flash engulfed the crumbling keep, drowning it in white radiance. Thankfully, Filly was quick to react this time and looked away, closing her eyes so she won’t get her brain blasted once more by Yuwaku’s beauty. In fact, she was avoiding looking toward her the whole time, but she had to look away from Agnar now.

She didn’t know about that transformation, but she found it utterly strange that he came to her. So she wasn’t even looking toward them when he was close to Yuwaku.

As the blinding light engulfed the keep, Fractal gasped, unable to believe his eyes. The brat, the kid who was an angry jaguar a couple of moments ago, was now standing there, with Yuwaku nowhere in sight.

Standing alone in his humanoid form, Agnar was in the middle of the keep, shirtless, and holding a long, ninjato-like mirror blade that reflected the world and his own image in it. The dust seemed to avoid him, keeping a few feet away, and the shimmering light that was just unleashed danced around him like spider strings.

He looked at Fractal with a calm face, his golden eyes hiding a dark purple spark inside them, only made stronger by the light.

The succubus growled, barely standing up. The wound in her chest bled profusely, but she ignored the pain and ripped the spear out, throwing it away so her regeneration could kick in.

She didn’t see Agnar; she never dared look in his direction, but she could feel it. And his magic was far stranger and stronger than anything she saw before.

Agnar’s magic consisted of several auras. His own, a humanoid spark, weak and fragile. A harrowing, devilish presence, the magic of Maharaja she granted to him by his warlock contract. Yuwaku’s radiant beauty and immense mana reserve, which she inherited from her mother. But then, she could feel two dark eyes glaring at her back out of nothing, ripping into her soul with sharp claws.

Something immense and utterly alien was watching through Agnar, and she didn’t want to wait and find out who it was. But she could guess a few things. It was draconic in nature, powerful than any devil lords she had seen before, and completely mad and enraged. That had led her to believe that, for some reason, Tiamat could be watching.

But that presence was Arad, boiling with rage from beyond Limbo’s horizon.

She had already betrayed Fractal by lying to him, so now she could only bet on Agnar and Yuwaku. Or would she? She still had things she could do to increase her standing, even by a bit. She didn’t want whatever that presence was to catch up to them before she could prove herself useful and friendly.

As the keep slowly crumbled down, she flew away and rushed to rescue the injured Obelisk. Hoping it’ll be enough for her life to spared.

Back in the keep, Fractal looked at Agnar with a somber face. He could feel the same presences that Filly felt, and he knew that something destructive was coming, and fast.

“What is that form?” He asked, his eyes growing narrower. He needed to talk and buy a few seconds. He didn’t know anything about the powers of this form of Agnar, and judging by how troublesome his Jaguar form was, this promises to be an even bigger pain.

Agnar looked like he always did, a mere kid. But now, Yuwaku’s tattoo covered most of his back. To Fractal, that tattoo looked like a pure dark mark as the magic of the wizards blocked Yuwaku’s image from his vision.

“You have her figure engraved upon your own body? How can you endure her power?” He lifted his spear and pointed it forward, charging a raging blue fireball.

It didn’t make sense. He had lived for a long time and had never heard of a Nymph and a human fusing like this. This was something that spirits did with humans, not Nymphs.

But Fractal didn’t know that Zephyr was Yuwaku’s mother, and that just as the daughter had inherited some power from her father, just like her mother, she too could make contracts with humans and grant them power.

Agnar and Yuwaku’s situation was similar to Aella and Zephyr, a weak mortal getting granted direct power by a spiritual being inhabiting their bodies and souls. In Yuwaku’s case, Agnar was the only human capable of enduring her beauty, so she was bound to end up contracting him like this.

ZON!

Agnar disappeared, only leaving a small puff of smoke where he stood. Strangely enough, the ground where he was looked pristine, clean, and untouched by the harrowing fights that had taken place around.

Fractal’s eyes widened. That wasn’t a thunder step like before… it was teleportation. He immediately started turning around, his spear lifting to guard against the inevitable hit.

He knew that Agnar’s sword was a problem; he could feel a strange power coming from it, so he didn’t want it to touch him before he could fully understand its power.

But that hit never arrived. Agnar didn’t teleport behind him with Void Step; he didn’t even stay in the keep.

Outside, the succubus Filly finally reached Obelisk, but found herself facing what remained of Fractal’s soldiers. All of them were there, and they knew their orders. She couldn’t just take Obelisk and run away in front of them. They would kill her in seconds.

She had only one choice left: seduce them and try to get their attention long enough to create an opening, grab Obelisk, and bolt it away. She can do it, but the question is whether she can do it fast enough.

ZON!

Agnar appeared standing between everyone, and they all looked at him for a moment, including Filly. It took her a second, but she instinctively covered her eyes. When Agnar saw that, he unleashed Yuwaku’s beauty upon all of the devils there.

As if hit with an overcharged flashbang, all of them screamed, their eyes and ears bleeding rivers.

They were a moment too late to react, and most of them got blinded and stunned with a single glance. Those who managed to close their eyes in time faced Agnar’s sword, getting cut down first before he slaughtered everyone else.

He was fast, efficient, and merciless. Agnar had mercy for mortals, not devils and demons.

It all happened in the blink of an eye, and Filly only heard their screams for a second before the bodies started dropping.

She couldn’t even ask him what was going on before he grabbed her and Obelisk and teleported away, a second before Fractal fell from the sky and obliterated the entire area with a raging torrent of flames.

“Damned Brat! You keep running away!” He screamed at the top of his lungs.

At this moment, Agnar’s goal wasn’t to fight Fractal: he already fought him enough. Now, he only wanted to survive long enough.

****

Far away, Agnar was flying through the sky using a strange form of wind magic. He didn’t fully understand it, but knew it was something Yuwaku inherited from Zephyr. That alone wasn’t fast enough for him, so he was teleporting with Yuwaku’s void step whenever he was able to.

“We’re running away? Really?” Filly cried, unable to believe how fast he was flying. She somehow expected him to fight Fractal again and kill him.

Agnar spoke, his voice sounding strange, mixed as if both Yuwaku and he were speaking simultaneously.

“I don’t know where he is hiding the source of that magic that is allowing him to look at me without getting blinded. So I’m not risking a fight. Besides, Maharaja, they are coming. We only need to run away until they arrive.”

She thought about it for a second, and then paled. “What do you mean by they?”

“Both of them. Don’t you know the Maharaja is a twins?” He looked at her for but a moment, then threw her alongside Obelisk into the desolate mountains.

“Hide. I’ll slowly him and buy time.” He then teleported away with another void step.

At that time, Fractal was flying around his castle, trying to find Agnar. He was already considering running away. Does he have the time to get back at that kid before the other lords of hell arrive? He didn’t know if he could, but that brat had burned his entire castle to the ground, so his pride wasn’t allowing him to let him escape.

He also couldn’t fly too far away from the castle, because the wizards casting the protective seal are chained beneath the ground at the castle’s dungeon. If he were to stray too far away, their spell would break, and he would get blinded by Yuwaku’s beauty. But Agnar didn’t know that.