The Hero’s Harem is Trying to Kill Him

The intruder's blade streaked toward Kai's chest, the air itself screaming at the speed of it. His body reacted on instinct—parry, twist, deflect—but the impact rattled his arms to the bone. His ribs flared with agony where the banquet table had cracked beneath him, every breath sharp and shallow.

Astra stood frozen, her fan raised, her hand trembling so violently she could barely hold it steady. Her eyes were wild—fury, grief, betrayal swirling like a storm. One wrong word, one wrong move, and she could very well strike him herself.

Velis shifted, sword locked in perfect guard, but her voice cut sharper than steel.

"Choose your path, Astra. But if you draw blood that isn't his enemy's… you will face me."

The words echoed like a death sentence.

Lyra, her hands pressed desperately against the ground as if to anchor herself, sobbed through clenched teeth. "Stop! Please—stop fighting each other! Don't you see? That's what she wants!" Her gaze darted toward the throne.

The Queen reclined lazily, her jeweled goblet of wine swirling in her hand, lips curved in a knowing smile. She didn't need to fight—every broken reflection, every twisted shard of mirror was a dagger turning allies into executioners.

The intruder slashed again, relentless, and Kai barely rolled aside, the steel grazing his cheek. Blood spattered across the white tablecloth, staining the once-grand banquet in crimson.

"Astra!" Kai shouted, his voice raw. "Look at me! Forget the lies—forget the reflections! You know me!"

But Astra's hand did not lower. Her voice cracked like glass.

"Then swear it, Kai. Swear you never lied to us. Swear you never—"

The intruder lunged again, his blades whistling like a viper's strike, aiming not at Kai this time—

—but at Astra.

The intruder's twin blades scythed toward Astra's heart.

Kai's body moved before thought, before breath—he launched himself forward, ignoring the screaming protest of his ribs. Steel met steel in a blinding clash, sparks bursting between them. The force of the impact tore through his arms and sent him skidding across the polished floor, but Astra was spared—by inches.

Her fan faltered, lowering for the first time, shock flashing across her face.

The intruder's masked grin widened. "Hesitation… delicious. You protect her even when she doubts you. How much longer before the cracks finish breaking you apart?"

"Shut up!" Kai roared, forcing himself upright, blade trembling in his bloodied grip.

Velis struck, her sword darting like lightning to intercept the intruder's next advance. Their weapons rang in sharp rhythm, each strike calculated, deliberate. Yet even Velis' precision faltered beneath the shifting reflections of the shattered mirrors. With every swing, another version of Kai appeared—smiling falsely, whispering to another woman, betraying with every shadow.

Lyra screamed, covering her ears. "Stop! They aren't real! None of them are real!" But her voice drowned beneath the cacophony of steel.

The Queen raised her goblet in mock salute, laughter soft and poisonous. "So fragile, these bonds of yours. A single lie—or the belief of one—is enough to reduce love to ash."

Kai forced his voice over the din, eyes locked on Astra. "I'll prove it. Right here, right now—I'll fight until there's no doubt left!" His blade arced in a furious counterstrike, driving the intruder back.

But even as steel rang, Astra whispered, trembling, "If you lied to us… if even one thing was false… I'll kill you myself."

Her words cut deeper than the intruder's blades.

The hall erupted in steel and shattering glass.

Velis's blade carved clean arcs through the air, precise and merciless, each strike meant to dismantle the intruder piece by piece. Yet for every blow she landed, another reflection splintered from the mirrors, birthing new phantoms of Kai that blurred the battlefield.

One smiled tenderly at Astra.

One whispered false promises in Lyra's ear.

One stood with Velis, hand in hers, declaring her the only one.

Each illusion twisted their hearts like knives.

"Enough!" Astra shrieked, slashing her fan through a phantom Kai's throat. The image burst into shards of light, only to reform again behind her, smirking with cruel familiarity. Her chest heaved, rage mixing with despair. "I can't—tell what's real anymore!"

"That's the point," the intruder snarled, blades flashing as he forced Kai onto the defensive. "How long before your precious harem turns their weapons on you themselves?"

Kai's arms burned, his wounds screaming as every block rattled his bones. Still, his voice rose above the chaos, raw and ragged.

"Then believe in this—my blade, my blood, my fight! If you can't trust my words, trust that I'd rather die here than betray you!"

Velis's sword intercepted the intruder once more, her voice calm, sharp as winter frost.

"Words don't matter, Kai. Actions do. If you fall, the Queen wins." Her eyes, however, lingered on Astra. "So choose—now. Either we fight beside him… or we kill him."

The intruder lunged again, feinting toward Kai—but at the last second, his blades spun toward Lyra, who was too slow to defend herself.

Kai's roar shook the banquet hall.

The intruder's blades carved twin arcs of silver light, aimed squarely for Lyra's chest.

She froze, wide-eyed, hands trembling as her bow slipped from her grasp. The illusions whispered in her ears, drowning her instincts—Kai kissing Astra, Kai swearing eternal loyalty to Velis, Kai abandoning her under the moonlight. The lies tangled her will until her knees threatened to buckle.

"Lyra!" Kai's voice tore through the storm of falsehoods. His battered body lunged, ignoring pain, ignoring reason. He hurled himself between her and the intruder's strike.

Steel screamed.

The first blade skimmed across his shoulder, carving deep into muscle. The second slashed across his ribs, hot blood spraying the marble floor.

But Lyra was untouched.

Kai's blade caught the intruder's final thrust, their swords locked in brutal deadlock. His arms trembled, knees shaking under the weight of the impact, but he refused to give ground.

The intruder leaned in close, masked face inches away. "You can't shield them all. One by one, they'll slip away, and you'll die choking on your own lies."

Kai spat blood, forcing words through gritted teeth. "Then I'll choke—fighting for them."

Lyra's hands finally steadied. Tears streamed down her cheeks, but fury blazed in her eyes. She raised her bow, nocking an arrow that glowed with desperate resolve.

Astra's fan snapped open beside her. Velis's sword angled low, ready to strike.

For the first time, all three wives aligned their blades toward the true enemy.

The Queen's smile faltered.

The mirrors trembled as if sensing the shift in resolve. Where once they spat endless phantoms, now they shivered, their light flickering against the weight of sharpened will.

Lyra's arrow hummed with power, her hands no longer trembling. Astra's fan snapped closed with a metallic ring, her every movement coiled like a serpent ready to strike. Velis adjusted her stance, blade angled forward, her ice-cold focus piercing through illusion.

For the first time since the banquet began, they were united.

The intruder laughed, a low, mocking sound that echoed unnaturally across the fractured hall. "So the harem finally decides to stand together. Pity you're already too late."

His body blurred, darting between the shards of mirror-light. Dozens of phantom Kai's leapt forward again, each wearing his face, his smirk, his voice.

"Velis—right!" Kai barked, blocking a strike that would have skewered him.

"Already moving," she answered, her blade cutting through two illusions with surgical precision.

"Astra, now!"

She spun, her fan's razor edge slicing a phantom in half, scattering it into dust.

"Lyra—shoot!"

Her arrow screamed across the room, slamming through the intruder's shoulder. Blood spattered across the polished table as the real body staggered.

The crowd of nobles gasped, panic rippling through them as the mask of control cracked.

The intruder clutched the arrow, wrenching it free, dark blood pouring down his arm. Yet his grin never faltered. "Good. Finally… you're starting to look like the Kai I came to kill."

He raised both blades high, and the mirrors shattered in unison. Shards spun through the air like a storm of knives.

Kai threw himself forward, dragging Astra and Lyra down as Velis's blade spun into a defensive arc—

The banquet hall erupted in a rain of blood and glass.

Next Chapter Preview – Chapter 87: Storm of Glass

The banquet hall lies in ruin—glittering chandeliers shattered, nobles fleeing in panic, and the air thick with the scream of broken mirrors turned to blades.

Kai bleeds from half a dozen wounds, his strength waning, yet his eyes burn with defiance. Astra and Velis move in tandem, cutting down phantom after phantom, while Lyra's arrows pierce the storm with deadly precision. For the first time, their harem bond feels unbreakable.

But the intruder is far from finished. With every shard of glass whirling through the air, the banquet becomes a death trap where even a heartbeat's hesitation means death. And as the Queen watches with unsettling calm, it becomes clear—the battle is not just about survival, but about proving which bond is stronger: loyalty… or betrayal.

Call to Action

The fight has reached its most dangerous stage. Can Kai and his wives carve a path through the storm of glass, or will their fragile unity shatter with the mirrors around them?

Don't miss Chapter 87: Storm of Glass—where love, trust, and survival are tested against an enemy who knows how to cut deep, in more ways than one.