The dragon’s harem

“HERESY!” As a voice screamed among the horde of necromancers and druids, silence fell a second later as the clouds passed in the night sky, reflecting the moonlight down. They all looked back and saw her standing there wearing their clothes.

The woman was tall, had a thin build, and her eyes burned like two rubies, dripping with a dark power. Her black robe moved with the air, and her hair trailed behind her head, rising and falling as a faint red mist started swirling around her body.

“VAMPIRE! Kill her!” One of the necromancers shouted at the top of his lungs as he pulled a wand from underneath his coat and pointed it at her. The tip flashed, and in the blink of an eye, a blinding red flash of fire and lightning roared, hitting the woman square in the shoulder.

As the woman was pushed half a step back, all of the other necromancers moved in sync and pointed their wands and staffs at her, blasting her with all the magic they could muster. Fire, lightning, stones, strange crystal spells, and far more necrotic curses and incantations than should exist, they all washed over the vampire, tearing the ground and burning everything to ash.

“Send the zombies and ghouls! We can’t kill her without holy magic!” One of them cried as he pulled a crystal bottle and, using magic, flung it right through the storm of spells, hitting the vampire right in the face. That was a bottle of holy water, pure and powerful.

As the zombies and ghouls surrounded the vampire, the necromancers stopped casting their spells and took a moment to breathe. “Did that get her?”

“Hehehehe…” But what they heard was not reassuring. She was giggling as the smoke cleared, and then glared at them with burning red eyes. Her face wasn’t even scratched by that holy water, and their spells seem to have failed to kill her.

“Monster…” One of the necromancers growled, and she glared at him with a smile.

“A hundred and fifty-two necromancers, ninety-six druids, and a few stragglers.” She lifted one hand, and blood formed into a staff in her palm. “Enough pigs to feed us for a while.”

In the next moment, she started moving with such harrowing force that the ground beneath her feet shattered, and the air around her screamed as she zipped toward the necromancers. Her staff moved, and with a single swing, four zombies had their heads shattered into a mist of blood, bone splinters, and mushed brain matter.

The blood mist solidified into spears, and they all flew toward the remaining zombies and ghouls, pinning them to the ground in the blink of an eye as the vampire herself rushed forward, tripping one of the druids to the ground and stepping on his face.

“You…monster!” He growled, and she glared down at him with a sadistic smile. “Go to sleep, forest dweller.” As he passed out beneath her black leather boots, she glared at the others with a smile, and one of them shouted.

“This power! A vampire lord!” While the vampire didn’t have clear and defined ranks like dragons’ ages, they did have something akin to a social hierarchy based on their power.

Vampire Spawns<Lesser Vampires<Vampires<Vampire Lords<Elder Vampire<Blood Lord.

A vampire Spawn is a mortal who was just turned into a vampire, and a lesser vampire is that vampire spawn after getting used to their newfound powers.

Regular vampires are the beasts that people know and fear, the hunters of the night and what most adventurers deal with, they are far more powerful, older, but manageable with tactics and numbers.

Vampire lords are the stage where regular tactics cannot defeat them, and slaying them becomes such an impossible task that it would usually need a powerful paladin or a hero to put them down. They are the ones who own castles, raise humans as cattle, and terrorize nations for centuries.

Elder vampires are on a whole other scale entirely, having raised multiple vampire lords and lived for several thousand years. Fighting one is impossible for mortals, since they are the closest to the peak and are sometimes referred to as the Blood Lord Seeds. They are the ones who would inherit the throne of the Blood Lord if the current Blood Lord dies.

In every world, there can only be one Blood Lord who has authority over all vampires. In the mortal world, it was Vlad, and now Arad holds that title, while leasing it to Eris most of the time. Those three names alone should explain enough of the power needed to hold that title.

The fact this woman was a vampire lord meant one thing… she wasn’t alone.

As the necromancers and druids thought of that, tens of vampires started showing up from the shadows and in a second, everyone was surrounded.

“Now, now… resistance would only cause you pain. You better surrender.” She looked at them with a grin. “All we need is your blood, so don’t worry. We’ll give you three meals a day and a stable to live in.”

They weren’t going to be treated like humans anymore because they had fallen into the hands of vampires. Many people misunderstood the vampire’s compliance under Arad’s rule as peacefulness, but that couldn’t be further from the truth.

Vampires were predators; they are the ones that regulate the humanoids’ populations and reduce their numbers. They are the wolves to sheep, the eagles to rabbits, and a prey should never trust its hunter.

Under Arad’s command, they won’t harm anyone innocent, whether they were from the empire or not, but the moment one is declared an outlaw for any reason, it’s free game. No matter how much those necromancers and druids slandered Merida and the empire, they were still allowed to exist.

But the moment they tried to summon the undead to cause harm, Arad’s protection fell, and the vampires weren’t going to miss the chance.

Merida watched from afar as the vampires captured and dragged everyone away, one by one, not showing anyone mercy. With this done, the only thing that remains should be to get back at the merchant union and find out why did they send those people here.

But that part can wait. Where is the goddess of peace? If she were behind this, then she might’ve expected this outcome. Is she a divine worshipped down south? Or is she just manipulating them?

Arad still didn’t come out of his bath, and Eris didn’t wake up either. With those two out, Merida couldn’t do much on her own. Arad is the emperor, so he can take any drastic measures he wants, and Eris is a goddess and might’ve been able to directly confront the goddess of peace.

Aella appeared beside her. “So, are those all of them?” She asked, and Merida nodded. “Yeah, most of them. Some died in their own undead experiments, and I’m certain some of those guys weren’t even necromancers or druids before coming here, but were soldiers.”

“So, the union has sent its soldiers to cause trouble here? That’s troubling.” Aella frowned, “We might have a war at our hands.”

“War isn’t a problem for us. We can easily crush any other kingdom or nation.” Merida crossed her arms, and Aella shook her head.

“That isn’t the problem; we can win. But it’ll be a one-sided massacre.” Aella tapped Merida on the shoulder. “You better relax. Arad is coming out tonight or tomorrow, so we’ll hold your ceremony the day after.”

“We should deal with the union first.” Merida growled, and Aella smiled. “Don’t worry about them. Isdis sent a request for political support from our allies.” She smiled and Merida gave her a sharp glare.

“You’ll let foreign nations handle our problems? Which one did you call?” As Merida growled, Zephyr popped out of Aella’s chest, stretched her arms, and looked at Merida with a grin. “Who else?”

With one heavy step, the tall, muscular old man growled as he glared up at the blazing sun. “It’s damn hot and bright here. What a bother.” Zeus, the Storm Titans’ king, frowned as he barely managed to resist the urge to use his magic and summon a few clouds to cool the place down.

“IT’S COLD!” That one shout was enough to startle Zeus, and he had never been shaken like that before in his life. The beautiful, red-haired young man standing by his side laughed loudly, crossing his arms as he stared right at the sun. He was Tempo, the current King of the Volcanic Titans.

“Aren’t you two complaining a bit much for being powerful titans?” Behind them, a beautiful man with pale white hair and radiant blue eyes smiled. Zeus glared right back at him. “Shut it, brat. I’m old, and my joints hurt.”

“I WASN’T COMPLAINING!” Tempo shouted, “I AM JUST AMAZED!”

Gojo sighed as he walked past them. “Just focus on the mission. We can’t let them keep bothering Arad, can we?”

Zeus went silent for a second and then nodded. “Yeah. The empire has only formed recently, so they are underestimating Arad a lot. If they knew how powerful he is, they wouldn’t have made such a bold and stupid move.”

“WE’LL MAKE THEM LEARN!” Tempo pulled his sword, and Zeus immediately smacked him on the head. “We aren’t going to fight anyone. Besides, we can wipe their entire nation by just rolling over.”

Tempo sheathed his sword and smiled. “Fine, let’s move then.” He could finally control his voice a bit better.