The dragon's harem

BAM! BAM! BA-BAM!

The flames ate the streets as the soldiers lifted their shields, "We have a rampaging mage. Call reinforcements!"

A soldier turned around, running as fast as he could.

PEW! A firebolt shattered his head the moment he walked away from the soldiers, "Who said you can run away?" Amber stared at them, smiling. "You can't face a mage without magic. How about you give up and cast spells?"

They growled, grinding their teeth as they hid behind the shields. ^That woman is behind you,^ Their gazes shifted toward Merlin. Any magic they cast would be taken by her and morphed into their loss.

"Ten of you distract her. White, we send someone to kill Merlin." The soldiers' captain whispered.

A soldier snuck into one of the houses, finding a family sitting inside, "We have to take Merlin down." He said.

"I can kill her," A little girl replied, "Humans are stupid, they are bound to hesitate,"

"You're right," The soldier nodded, looking at the parents, "Get her as close as you can without being detected and give her a knife, a small one that she can hide."

The father stared at him, "She's bound to be destroyed. We need a second plan,"

"You're right," The little girl looked at them. "You soldiers are wearing armor. They notice you by noise. We need someone silent,"

"I will attack afterward," The mother replied, "But ask the neighbors to charge as well."

"You don't have to tell us that," He turned around and snuck out of the back door.

****

"Don't burn the houses!" The little girl rushed out crying, heading toward Merlin with the knife hidden behind her back.

CRACK! Without wasting any moment, Merlin kicked the girl in the face, sending her flying across the street.

"Kick the... Oh, you already done it?" Amber giggled.

Merlin stared at the little girl as she smashed into a stall, breaking it, "You know me better than this, don't you?" She giggled, "I won't fall to your tricks,"

Puff! The little girl's body disintegrated, leaving a glowing gem.

The mother jumped out the window, swinging a knife at Merlin's back as the people looked out of their windows, throwing utensils at Amber.

Merlin spun in place, catching the mother's hand, twisting her shoulder, and breaking it before dropping her to the ground.

The mother struggled, but Merlin stared at her with a smile, "Come on, even I can overpower children and the likes of you," CRACK! She twisted the mother's head, killing her.

The mother's body disintegrated immediately as Merlin stood to look at Amber, "Burn the whole place. We need to support Arad as soon as we can,"

"You don't need to tell me," Amber spun her staff, "Burn into ash, I call a storm from the plane of fire," [Storm Blaze]

A violent gust of wind ignited into flames as it rushed across the building, setting them ablaze.

SWOSH! From the fire, a wet knight rushed toward Amber, swinging his sword at her neck. "Got you!"

But, just before he could reach her, the earth quaked.

BOOOM! Everyone stopped moving, staring around in shock as they could feel the ground trumbling.

"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" Arad's laughs filled the air as a massive explosion burst beside Merlin's tower, and then several houses shattered to pieces.

"The hell is he doing?" Amber gasped.

BAM! A nearby house exploded as something smashed into it at high speed. It was the fake city lord and the ruler of the city mobs. He coughed blood as a fake Merlin landed beside him, "Are you okay?" She screamed. She was the guardian of the stairs to the next layer.

Thud! Arad landed on the building in front of them with a smile. "I only accepted one ruler on this land besides myself. You might look like him, but you're a disgrace."

The two stared at Arad, sweating.

"Come at me, show me the strength you claim right with," Arad said with a grin, fire crackling from his eyes.

The fake Merlin growled, ^This bastard, we sealed all of his draconic powers. With what he's fighting now?^ She pointed her staff at him, [Stone Crusher]

A massive boulder appeared at the tip of her staff, flying at Arad at a blinding speed.

Arad extended his left hand behind him. CRACKLE! Sparks crackled from his palm as a burst of flame gushed out, propelling him forward and dodging the stone with a hair thread.

Merlin growled as Arad flew past her, grabbing the city lord by the face. "Come on, fight back," Arad smiled, fire bursting from his feet as he flew away with the city lord, dragging his face across the building's walls.

[Fly] The fake Merlin flew away, pointing her staff at him as she tried to charge a spell.

Arad immediately threw the city lord away and spun in place. Fire gushed from the back tip of his quarterstaff like a jet as he threw it at the fake Merlin.

"Fuck!" She cried, barely dodging it. ^Each time he cast a spell, his understanding of its basic function increased. His skills with magic are rapidly growing with each cast. But what I can't understand is where he's getting all this mana from. No matter how much he casts, his mana doesn't seem to drop.^

BAM! With fire gushing beneath his feet, Arad flew into the sky like a missile, catching Merlin by the hair before she could fly away from him. "Why are you running away? I just want you to prove it." He spun her around using a jet from his left hand then threw her after the city lord.

[Barrier] The fake Merlin covered her body with a barrier to survive the impact as she landed on the same building as the city lord.

She growled, blood dripping across her forehead. He almost pulled her hair out of her scalp with that throw.

[Barrier] Arad created a floating barrier in the air and stood on it, staring down at them. "Do you know why we love high peaks?" Arad said, smiling. "So we can look down on monsters like you two," He giggled.

The two stared at him in terror.

"This whole labyrinth is built by Merlin's magic, and each layer should be stronger than the one before. Do you know what that means?" He smiled.

"It means there is no way this whole layer combined can reach a tenth of Merlin's power. And when counting the energy needed to build the layer, the city and the people here, and that pathetic excuse of a city lord, what's left for you, fake Merlin?"

The fake Merlin stared at him with a scared face.

"One hundredth? One thousandth?" He smiled, "You don't amount to the real thing, so don't pretend to be her,"

"Come on, attack me." Arad opened his arms, "I will play with you until I get bored. We like to play with our prey before eating them, after all,"

"What is he doing?" Amber gasped, "In those spells, I could feel his mana dropping, but it immediately recharged."

Merlin grabbed her by the hand, "We should run. He reminds me of Alcott when he was young, minus the magic." She pulled her away.

"What part of him resembles that idiot? Besides the muscles," Amber said as she ran away with Merlin.

"It's the talent. Alcott was a martial genius. Even without proper training, he could embarrass sword masters in mock battles." Merlin looked back, "He's recycling Mana,"

"What?" Amber gasped, "I never heard of a wizard being able to use it without being an eight-tier at least. It even took you two years to master it, right?"

Merlin smiled, ^He showed it to me before, that witch Doma taught it to him, but he was relying on his void to use it before. It seems he is finally managing to pull it off on his own.^ She looked back. ^This labyrinth made a mistake. It's forcing Arad to learn the normal way and is bringing his fast-learning talent out,^

"SPEAK!" Amber shouted.

"He already knew it before," Merlin replied, "He has the mana capacity. He has the talent. He has a strong body to support it and has the will to learn, and the arrogant to keep learning even after tens of failures."

"Remember the traveling swordsman?" Merlin asked.

"The one who spat on Alcott when he was eleven years old? Calling him a wanna-be swordsman?" Amber looked back at her, "It only took Alcott a week to beat him into a pulp and piss on him in the city plaza."

"Age and getting married really tamed him down. He was an absolute monster back in his prime," Merlin looked at her, "What I'm trying to say is Arad might be like him. We're seeing a vicious monster coming to life."

"But this time he's a mage instead of a swordsman," Amber cried.

"Seems like he's both," Merlin replied.

****

Arad lifted his staff. ^Create the firebolt formula, but don't cast it. Instead, weave the recycling at its end. Drop the firepower a bit, but make it spin. Now added a line to make it stable in that way, but will launch forward with a mana tick.^

Arad glared down at the fake city lord and Merlin. ^Make more and more,^

over ten balls of fire appeared above his head. He smiled. ^Now to fire them all simultaneously, I only need a mana tick.^

BA-BA-BAM! All the spells burst at one, wrecking the building the two fake ones were inside.