Demonic Dragon: Harem System

The air felt too heavy, as if every particle was imbued with the power Strax had unleashed seconds before.

He remained standing in the center of the reshaped void, his silhouette still distorted by the energy that refused to completely disappear. The ground around him was a living scar: fragments of reality still mending themselves, desperately trying to return to what they once called "the world."

Strax took a deep breath.

Once.

Twice.

And then, as if he had wrenched something from within himself, he diminished the aura surrounding him. It wasn't simple. It wasn't like extinguishing a flame; it was like trying to compress an entire ocean into a glass jar. His body creaked, bones readjusting, muscles contorting, scales dissolving into shadows until he was once again in his human form.

The silence returned. But it wasn't the same.

Before, silence was absence. Now, silence was respect.

Strax's glowing eyes moved slowly to the four women before him.

Kali, still panting but with her vitality restored, clutched her chest as if she couldn't believe she was breathing.

Xyn trembled, her new gray wings beating with a restlessness that seemed not hers, but the very transformation that had consumed her.

Rogue remained still, but her living shadow spread and contracted like an additional heart, beating in rhythm with hers.

Frieren knelt, her crystalline body still emitting a bluish light, as if she were a living lamp trying to comprehend that she was still… alive.

Strax approached them. His steps were slow, almost solemn.

He said nothing, just watched them.

First, Kali. He knelt before her, his fingertips brushing her cheek. She shivered, not in fear, but in disbelief. The warmth of his touch was real, firm, human—the opposite of the emptiness she'd felt before falling.

"You're whole... That's good," Strax murmured softly, as if saying it only to himself.

He then moved on to Xyn.

She tried to straighten, but her knees buckled. Strax caught her by the shoulders before she could collapse. Her gaze, usually sharp and mocking, was clouded.

"Are you scared? I'm sorry I forced you to become a Dragon. I know Phoenixes and Dragons aren't the best of friends, so I apologize. But it's a way of protecting you," he said, looking deep into her eyes.

Xyn opened her mouth, but couldn't speak. She just shook her head, and tears, rare as gemstones, spilled from her eyes.

Rogue followed.

Her shadow brushed Strax's fingers before she could even muster the courage to look at him.

He leaned in close. "Is that still you?" Strax asked, as if it were a matter of life or death.

Rogue gave a crooked smile, dark and broken, but genuine.

"Unfortunately for you... I still am." His voice was hoarse, but laced with irony. Strax chuckled softly. "That's good."

Frieren, last.

She didn't react when he approached. She just stood there, kneeling, her shoulders shaking as her eyes glistened with tears.

Strax lifted her carefully, resting her head against his shoulder.

"I'll apologize just like I did to Nyx. I know you're not like me, and we're nothing more than companions," he said, almost whispering. "It was my way to save you, even if it meant rewriting your race. Evelyn would be upset if you died. And I promised to take care of you."

She wanted to say something, but not a single word could be uttered. As she stared at him, so many new insights filled her mind after becoming a Dragon that she couldn't react.

Strax took another deep breath, taking a step back to observe the four of them.

His gaze wasn't one of arrogance or superiority. It was something more... pained. As if, despite having performed a miracle, he himself was corroding inside.

And then, the sound came.

Vrooom.

A beating of wings.

Loud. Synchronized. Cutting through the air like spears.

Strax lifted his head.

Above him, immense silhouettes approached, piercing the cracked sky that hadn't yet fully healed. The air shifted as the first shadow descended. The ground trembled as four colossal dragons landed on the ruined land.

Beatrice, in her draconic form, exhaling embers like a living furnace.

Cassandra, the Ice Dragon, landed beside her, each step covering the ground with unmelting crystals.

Monica, the Lightning Dragon, descended like thunder, sparks racing across her scaly skin.

And Bellatrix, the Darkest Dragon, spread her majestic wings, immersing everything in subtle shadows that danced around her body.

On their backs, four human figures leaped to the ground. Yennifer. Xenovia. Kryssia. Cristine.

Each of them had a mixture of relief and horror in their eyes, for they had seen the System's explosion from afar, and yet they dared come.

Strax sighed. Not from exhaustion. But from recognition.

"So... you came. Even though you asked us to wait," he said, his voice low but resonating like thunder in the silence.

Cassandra was the first to approach. Her draconic form dissolved into thin air, revealing her human form. Her face was still scarred from the previous fight with the Kraken, but her blue eyes cut through the air like ice.

"We couldn't stand still..." she murmured. "The whole world shook. It was impossible not to feel you."

Beatrice, still in her dragon form, let out a low roar, as if confirming Cassandra's words.

Monica leaped to the ground, her body still glowing with unquenchable energy discharges. She looked at the four women surrounding Strax, then back at him.

"You... what did you do?"

Strax looked away.

He didn't answer right away. He just bent down, running his fingers through Kali's hair once more, as if confirming, for the umpteenth time, that she was okay. Only then, standing up, did he face Monica.

"What I had to do."

Silence.

It was Cristine who broke it, climbing down from Bellatrix's back. Her expression was pale, her eyes wide.

"Turned them into a dragon."

He didn't answer. Not because he didn't want to, but because he didn't know if there were enough words to explain.

Then he sighed.

And looked at the horizon, where the cracks in the sky still pulsed red.

His voice echoed, low but inescapable:

"Now... all that's left is Daniela."

The name hung in the air like a sentence.

Beatrice, Cassandra, Monica, and Bellatrix looked at each other. Yennifer clenched her fists. Xenovia closed her eyes. Kryssia and Cristine swallowed.

"Well, she and Scarlet… but knowing my mother… Scarlet is with her, so we have to find Daniela," Strax said as he looked toward the next island in the Archipelago.