Demonic Dragon: Harem System

The silence that had formed between them was abruptly broken.

Scathach's hand, still resting against Strax's chest, simply... stopped. The symbols pulsing in her palm trembled, lost their glow, and for an instant the entire runic firmament supporting her wavered.

And it was in that instant that something impossible happened.

Strax's shattered body—broken bones, torn flesh, burned wings—regenerated in a black and green flash. The blood dripping onto the ground evaporated into burning smoke. New scales emerged from beneath his skin like sharp blades. Each breath ceased to be a groan of pain and became once again the roar of a full-blown predator.

Scathach's eyes widened. "What...?!"

But there was no time for questions.

Strax advanced.

His fist, coated in concentrated energy, struck her face with incredible force. The impact was so devastating that half of Scathach's face was pulverized into flesh, bone, and blood, which streaked crimson through the air. The blow hurled her body like a projectile toward the distant ground, crushing her against the floating rocks. The earth shook, cracks opening, and runes were swallowed by the instability.

Scathach fell, arms outstretched, her body contorted, blood gushing from the grotesque wound in her head. For the first time since her appearance, she didn't immediately get up.

Strax remained standing, breathing deeply, watching her silently. His eyes no longer burned with uncontrolled fury, but with something even more dangerous: cold determination.

He took a step, then another, and turned his back to her. His voice, deep and firm, pierced the battlefield like a sentence:

"I don't care if you're my mother anymore."

The words cut deeper than any blade.

He continued, walking slowly toward the women watching him from afar, his eyes fixed solely on them.

"You ended any connection you had with me when you put them in danger."

Each word was like a gate closing, definitively sealing any bridge between them.

Scathach, crumpled to the ground, widened her eyes. For the first time, her heart contracted with something that wasn't anger or excitement from the fight. It was... emptiness. An old, forgotten feeling.

"Don't... don't do this..." Her voice was shaky, hoarse, as if it didn't belong to the same woman who had challenged a dragon seconds ago.

But Strax didn't look back.

"Kill yourself and go back to your shitty life in the depths of the abyss. I don't care." The coldness in her voice was cutting, like ice breaking steel.

He paused for a moment, lifting his head, and added, in a tone that crushed any remaining pride in her:

"I'm not your object of love who won't react to your stupid acts."

Scathach shuddered on the ground. The wound on her face was slowly healing, bones cracking, muscles mending. But inside, Strax's words hurt more than the loss of half her skull.

He took a few more steps, approaching Scarlet, Daniela, and the others. They were all completely silent, caught between shock and anticipation.

Strax stopped again. His voice now sounded heavy but clear, like a hammer driving the final nail into a coffin.

"Come back to consciousness... and we'll talk. Until then... get away from me."

He continued walking, never looking back.

Scathach lay motionless on the ground, her red eyes wide, feeling something she hadn't felt in ages. It wasn't physical pain. It was rejection.

The runic firmament began to crumble. The circles shattered, falling like burning glass, dissolving into thin air. The remaining copies vanished into dust. The sea, which had receded, slowly returned, covering the shattered fragments of land.

Daniela fell to her knees, breathing deeply, as if the weight that had suffocated her had lifted. Frieren closed her eyes, exhaling relief. Scarlet, however, couldn't take her eyes off Strax. She knew her brute strength. She knew her savagery. But that cruel calm, that utter contempt... it was something new.

Strax finally stopped before them. The Zani sword disappeared in sparks, returning to the scabbard behind her. Her body was still covered in dried blood, but her eyes no longer reflected the uncontrolled beast they once had.

He took a deep breath, and for the first time since the beginning, he seemed human again.

Behind him, Scathach still lay prone. Her bones were healing, her flesh regrowing, but her gaze was blank. For the first time in centuries, she had no answer. No taunt. Not even a smile.

She simply murmured softly, as if speaking to herself:

"He... truly rejected me."

The runes around her faded completely, leaving only bare skin and ancient scars. The overwhelming aura vanished. What remained was not the indestructible warrior, nor the general of the ages, but a woman alone, defeated not by force... but by indifference.

Strax didn't stop. He knelt before his wives, touching Scarlet's face with his hand, still warm with energy.

"I will punish you for siding with that woman over there while everyone else was in danger," he said softly.

Scarlet tried to speak but couldn't.

Strax was silent for a few moments, still staring straight ahead, as if the words spoken to Scathach had sealed an invisible pact within him. There was no longer any doubt, no hesitation. That entire archipelago was a prison, and the key lay right before him.

In the center, where the boiling waters intersected in endless whirlpools, a gigantic structure emerged. A colossal rune, black and pulsating, like a scar on the world itself. It rose like a living obelisk, radiating energy in runic patterns that connected all the islands together. It was what held them captive, what held their dominion, what made this place a prison.

Strax took a deep breath, then released the aura he had been keeping under control until that moment.

The air grew heavy. The surrounding sea trembled. The clouds parted like veils being torn. A wave of green and black energy expanded from his body, so intense that the ground beneath his feet simply pulsed.

The central rune reacted immediately, its symbols pulsating in a frenzy, trying to resist. But his presence was enough. His decision was enough.

"…Break." The word was low, but echoed in all directions.

And the rune binding the archipelago emitted a piercing scream, like crystal being crushed. The lines connecting it to the islands began to shatter one by one, until a colossal explosion of black and red light swept through everything.

The world went mad.

Storms erupted in seconds, covering the entire sky. Typhoons of fire and lightning danced over the islands, engulfing forests and reducing mountains to dust. The sea rose in miles-high walls of water, swallowing up fragments of land that still held.

Daniela screamed, grabbing Scarlet's arm. Frieren erected barriers, but they were useless against the fury unfolding. The very air seemed to shatter into invisible currents.

But before the chaos could engulf them, Strax moved.

His energy expanded again, but this time not in destruction. It was protection. A green-black dome of power rose around him and all his women, repelling the storms, dissolving the lightning, pushing back the walls of water.

"Stay close to me." His voice was firm, and none of them dared to move away.

He closed his eyes for a moment. And then, the roar came.

A sound that wasn't just sound—it was pure force, vibrating in everyone's bones, shaking the ocean itself. His body began to expand, his scales multiplying, sharp as blades. His wings broke through the energy barrier and spread, immense, covering the horizon like two storms of shadow and light. His previous black form seemed small compared to what now loomed.

The Dragon. The real one. Larger than any creature that had ever walked this archipelago. His body glowed in vivid patterns, veins of energy pulsing like rivers of magma beneath his scaled skin. Every breath was a gale. Every wingbeat, an earthquake.

He lowered himself, creating a safe platform on his back. The women looked at each other, still stunned, but one by one they climbed up, clinging to the firm scales that radiated heat and strength.

Scarlet, sitting down, couldn't help but smile nervously. "You... you've outdone yourself again."

Strax didn't answer. He simply adjusted his wings, preparing to take flight.

It was then that Monica, hesitant, looked back. There, lying amid the rubble and shadows of what remained of the central island, was Scathach. Her body had already recomposed, but she didn't move. She didn't try to get up. She simply watched silently, her eyes still fixed on the son who was abandoning her.

"Strax..." Monica called, biting her lip. "Are you... going to leave her there?"

The others also turned their gazes. For a moment, doubt hovered.

But Strax, without taking his eyes off the horizon, replied simply:

"She's strong enough to save herself."

The tone held neither hatred nor pity. Just certainty.

Monica hesitated, but with that answer, she said nothing more. The others fell silent as well. The choice was made.

And then, with a powerful movement, Strax flapped his wings.

The impact ripped the remaining islands from their foundations, sending fragments of stone flying. The surrounding storms split in two, forced by the wave of energy. The once-raging sea was crushed downward, creating a colossal crater in the ocean's surface.

He flew.

The colossal dragon rose above the clouds, carrying them all on its back, breaking through the chaos it left behind. The archipelago shattered below, engulfed by tidal waves and lightning, but nothing would reach them.

And far below, Scathach lay on the ruined ground. The wind tossed her blood-stained hair, and for the first time in centuries, she didn't react.

Her eyes remained fixed on the sky, following the immense silhouette of the dragon as it disappeared beyond the clouds.

And deep within, Scathach knew. He didn't hate her.

He didn't love her.

He had simply decided to live without her.

This was the defeat that no rune, no war, no era could erase.