The dragon's harem

Arad stood straight, his right arm dangling from his shoulder with blood dripping on his fingers. He looked at it with a passive face.

“It’s broken, isn’t it?” He sighed, feeling the bones from his legs to his arm crackle. He wasn’t used to such exertion.

Blood rushed across his veins, and his bones started to heal, sticking together as he looked forward at the red mist.

“I know you aren’t dead. I don’t have holy magic, after all.” He growled, clicking his teeth, “I have to eat you so you die, right?” He remembered the last time they fought. Chuzuke had regenerated from a blood drop.

Thud! Arad stepped forward and pulled a long chain and a mace from his stomach, linking them together at the pummel as Eris did.

The blood mist gleamed pure red, shimmering as a skeleton formed.

SWOSH! SWOSH! Arad started swinging the chain and mace in his hand, ripping chunks from the ground with a smile on his face. “Time to hunt some vampires.”

Veins and muscles covered the skeleton in the air. A bone-chilling cry boomed from its throat across the forest. A twisted bat-like face, two messed-up wings on its back, claws and fangs. A terrifying monstrosity showing the true nature of vampires, monsters taking the shape of humans.

GROAR! Chuzuke roared, blood mist gushing from his deformed mouth. The ground beneath Arad’s legs turned red, with countless spawns jumping out.

“Look who’s ugly now,” With a smile on his face, Arad swung the chain and mace in circles, ripping the closest spawns to him apart.

With one stomp, he sent the mace forward toward Chuzuke. SWOSH! The vampire lord dodged to the side, pointing his hand at Arad.

CRACK! Arad jerked his hands, sending a wave through the chain, forcing the made at its end to spin and wrap around Chuzuke’s body, tying one of his arms to his torso.

PEW! A blood beam rushed from Chuzuke’s finger, piercing Arad’s head through the left eye.

GROAR! Chuzuke roared, and his spawns lunged at Arad.

Arad’s body twisted back as if he was playing limbo, stopping at a really uncomfortable angle, all the attacks missing him.

“At them,” Arad said with his left eye glowing red, his spawns jumping out of his body to fight Chuzuke’s spawns.

Chuzuke gasped. He already felt Arad’s vampire blood but didn’t know he was strong enough to have spawn, let alone have them stand to his own.

TAP! TAP! TAP! Arad’s feet started tapping the ground as he pulled the chair toward him, dragging Chuzuke closer. CRACKLE! A burst of lightning exploded from his body, bolts rushing toward Chuzuke from the chains.

CLACK! Chuzuke swung his claws, cutting the chains and turning away to run. He doesn’t want to get close to Arad and get slapped again, and fighting at range is disadvantageous to him. This whole fight is a mess, and he would rather run away and try later.

CRACK! Chuzuke stopped, hearing something walk toward him from the bushes. He could spot two golden glowing eyes, but they were close to the ground, a half-human short.

^This smell, a kid?^ He looked closer, seeing a child holding a wooden sword in his hand.

“Monsters, coming to my city, killing the innocent. You shall never escape the blade.” He lifted his sword to the side, putting his hand on the blade.

“Roar! Maha…” Thud! Arad snatched him, and with one swing of his arm, he threw the kid into the sky at a blinding speed toward the city walls.

The kid growled, feeling the acceleration in his chest. “That idiot? How am I going to even land from this?” He stared back, seeing the wall approaching rapidly.

“ROAR! Maharaja!” Golden lighting crackled from his body as he transformed into a black Jaguar, twisting his body mid-air to land legs. But to his luck, Gojo caught him before he hit the ground.

“I understand your enthusiasm to fight, but don’t get in my brother’s business.” Thud! He punched the Jaguar in the head, knocking him out.

****

Chuzuke stared at Arad standing in the forest, an eerie feeling around him.

Arad slowly turned toward Chuzuke, staring at him in the eyes. “You won’t run away like last time,” CLACK! He pulled the Adamantine sword from his stomach.

^Where did the chain go? No, that blade, that stance, I saw it before.^ He could remember something from the deepest corners of his memory.

“You dare…” Arad said, and Chuzuke could see Alcott in him. “Attack my wives?” The image became clearer. ^That fighter who came after lord Vlad.^

“And think you can run away?” Arad growled.

Vlad, Ginger’s father tried to retrieve her once from Alcott and sent a few assassins. Alcott pulled up on his castle a few months later and ripped him apart. Chuzuke had been one of Vlad’s spawns at the time, and he saw his fight with Alcott.

Arad lifted his sword above his head, taking a wrath stance.

^This is different. He isn’t actively trying to mimic him.^ Chuzuke lifted his hands, forming a blood shield.

“Action Surge, Adrenalin rush,” Arad mumbled. VROOM! The void engulfed his blade as his heart rumbled, the veins on his limbs bulging as he lunged forward, swinging the sword as fast as he could.

CLANG! CLANG! Arad cut through Chuzuke’s shield like butter, ripping his arms, legs, and head apart.

Chuzuke gasped. ^I managed to protect my torso. I can regenerate at top speed. As long as my heart is intact.^ He can regenerate indefinity with blood as long as his heart is intact. But if his heart was destroyed, he could only regenerate his whole body twice before getting forced into a coma.

Arad turned around, and Chuzuke felt something poke at his back.

Artifact’s magic is malleable. Their effect can shift slightly depending on the mana poured into them. Explosions can be changed into cones from spheres to get more penetration. They can even be directed.

Upon impact, two beams of concentrated mana formed, piercing Chuzuke’s chest, lungs, and heart. All originating from his nipples.

“You can’t block it, can you?” Arad said behind him, holding the explosive nipple knife in his hand.

Blugh! Chuzuke coughed blood.