Demonic Dragon: Harem System

The smell of burning flesh still lingered in the air, mixed with the salty seawater lapping against the rocks surrounding the island.

Frieren shifted her weight on the rock, trying to find the perfect position again, when a shiver ran down her skin. Small, almost imperceptible. She opened one eye, but the sun was still there, warm, golden, inviting.

"...Strange," she murmured, before closing it again.

It was Rogue who noticed first. Her ear, trained in the silence of the hunt, picked up something that clashed with the crackling of the fire: a deep, rhythmic sound, like muffled drums. No, not drums. Footsteps. Heavy footsteps. Many.

She raised her head slowly, the skewer still in her hands, her eyes narrowing.

"Wait... did you hear that?"

Xyn suspended the blue magic controlling the fire, her gaze turning to the twisted forest that surrounded part of the island. An oppressive silence suddenly fell. Even the wind seemed to retreat.

Kali, still lying on the charred ground, raised an eyebrow in boredom.

"More toys?" she murmured, rolling to sit up.

But then she realized she wasn't. It wasn't the same as before.

The ground vibrated. A deep, steady tremor, building like a wave about to break.

From the horizon, between the dead and twisted trees, red dots appeared. Many. Countless. Eyes glowing like burning coals, dozens, hundreds, thousands.

Rogue spat out the piece of meat she was chewing.

"Oh, no…"

Then they appeared.

The horde wasn't the same deformed beasts as before. These were larger, more grotesque, as if the runes had fused flesh, bone, and magic into horrors that belonged to no world. Gigantic demons, with spines protruding from their skin, mouths that opened in all the wrong places, limbs multiplied into absurd shapes. Some crawled like flesh centipedes, others walked upright with six arms, wielding blades made of bone and molten metal.

And they didn't come in small groups. They came in legions.

The entire island seemed to tremble under the weight of their march.

"What... shit..." Xyn whispered, her eyes wide.

Kali leaped to her feet, the savage smile returning to her face.

"Finally."

But even she noticed. Instinct, the one no warrior could silence, screamed within her: this wasn't just a fight. It was a calamity.

The first wave advanced.

A nearly fifteen-foot-tall demon with a double jaw full of black fangs charged at Kali. She raised her hand and crushed it in a blast of violet energy. The body was pulverized, but ten more took its place, roaring like a living wall.

Frieren rose slowly from the rock, brushing the dust off herself. Her eyes, cold and analytical, roamed the scene.

"This isn't natural."

Rogue swung her skewer like a spear and drove it into the ground.

"No need to speak." Her teeth gritted. "This is an army."

The second wave crashed.

Kali sent columns of shadow piercing dozens, but their flesh reformed, their bodies welded together, stitched together by a magic Frieren recognized immediately: runes.

"Damn it…" she muttered, raising her hand and firing golden beams that exploded dozens at once. "They're multiplying. For every one killed, two appear in their place."

Xyn swallowed, her body already covered in the blue aura.

"Then we'll have to burn them to the ground." She snapped her fingers, and a wave of blue fire exploded across the field, engulfing dozens of monsters. The smell was unbearable: burning flesh mixed with sulfur, a stench that made eyes water. But the screams… the screams wouldn't stop.

Kali charged forward, laughing, tearing through monsters like a living storm. But no matter how much she destroyed, their numbers didn't diminish. The horizon was still full. And now, winged creatures appeared, flying like swarms of giant bats, swooping down in suicidal dives toward the group.

Rogue leaped forward, her fangs gleaming, her eyes blood-red.

"I'll take care of the air!"

She swung her curved blade and within seconds was slicing wings, ripping throats, turning the skies into a rain of mutilated bodies.

But the ground gave no respite.

One of the monsters—huge, with four ox-like heads and arms as thick as tree trunks—let out a guttural scream and smashed the ground. The entire island shook, and black stone columns rose like spears, forcing the group to scatter.

Frieren cursed under her breath, raising a magical shield that deflected a shower of bones thrown by an eight-eyed, arachnid creature.

"This isn't just a blind attack…" she realized, her mind racing. "It's a planned summoning."

Xyn, beside her, breathed fire like a real dragon, but even she was beginning to sweat.

"Planned by whom?"

The answer didn't come. But everyone already knew.

Runes.

And if they were runes, there was only one responsible.

Kali dug her feet into the ground, raising both hands. Black chains exploded in all directions, binding dozens of monsters at once.

Her eyes gleamed with insane pleasure.

"I will tear you all apart!"

The chains closed, crushing flesh, bone, and metal, until the field was filled with viscera. But the void filled immediately, more bodies sprouting, as if the earth itself were giving birth to demons.

Frieren screamed:

"Kali! They are endless!"

"Good!" Kali roared, blood streaming down her face. "Me neither!"

But she knew it wasn't true. As devastating as their energy was, there was a limit. And the horde seemed endless.

Rogue descended from the sky, wings torn, a deep gash on his shoulder.

"It can't be done!" he shouted, gritting his teeth. "They won't stop! It's like fighting the sea!"

Frieren looked up at the horizon. Now, it wasn't just the monsters. The sky itself was opening, black fissures spreading like cracks in glass. From within them, tendrils of dark energy descended, as if the world itself were being ripped apart.

Xyn fell to her knees, exhausted, but still breathing fire.

"Frieren… what is this?"

The mage clenched her fists, her golden eyes burning.

"It's Scathach. She's turning the entire island into a portal."

Silence. A heavy, suffocating silence, as even the monsters hesitated for a second.

Then the third wave came.

They were no longer hordes.

They were titans.

A colossal monster rose from the fissures, its head reaching for the clouds. It was made of fused bodies, thousands of them, all screaming in unison, a cacophony of agony that made bones vibrate. Its every step crushed dozens of the smaller creatures as if they were nothing.

Frieren's eyes widened.

"...This isn't a horde. It's a sacrificial army."

Kali roared, raising her hand and firing a spear of purple energy at the giant creature. The impact pierced its head, exploding into fragments of flesh and bone. But the grotesque mass reformed, stitching itself back together, as if mocking her.

The field turned to hell.

Blue flames, purple shadows, silver blades, blood, screams, explosions. The entire group now fought like never before. But with each passing second, the island seemed smaller, more suffocated, more engulfed in chaos.

Frieren finally shouted above the din, his voice piercing the countryside.

"If we stay, we all die!"

Kali glared at him, her eyes blazing.

"Then let them die!"